Scientists find human body contains 10K different microbes – – Are you concerned about these creatures?

Jun 13, 2012

Scientists find human body contains 10K different microbes

For
the first time, scientists have cataloged human germs, determining that
more than 10,000 species of microbes can be found in and on a healthy
person.

These bugs -- mostly benign but occasionally causing
illness -- occupy just about every part of the body, living on the skin,
in the stomach and intestines, up the nose (and every other other
orifice), according to the Human Microbiome Project.

The
germ gene map is the culmination of the five-year, $173 million effort
involving hundreds of scientists and dozens of universities.

Here's the news release from the National Institutes of Health.

The Washington Post summarizes the findings:

Researchers
found that both the number and variety of microbes differed among an
individual's body habitats. They also observed that conditions such as
temperature and acidity, as well as the work being done by the human
cells in the various body habitats, appear to influence which microbes
live there.

For example, there are roughly 4,000 species of
microbe in the intestine, where they help digest nutrients and produce
vitamins and anti-inflammatory compounds. On the other hand, the vagina
has only about 300 — and the diversity decreases during pregnancy to
provide a healthy passage for the infant.

Live Science points out
that there are trillions of microbes, which outnumber human cells 10 to
1. Most are bacteria. Other creature features include protozoa,
archaea, bacteriophages, wormlike helminth parasites and yeasts.

"This
is a whole new way of looking at human biology and human disease, and
it's awe-inspiring," Dr. Phillip Tarr of Washington University at St.
Louis, one of the lead researchers, told the Associated Press.
"These bacteria are not passengers. They are metabolically active. As a
community, we now have to reckon with them like we have to reckon with
the ecosystem in a forest or a body of water."

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