When antibiotics didn’t help Dr. Khoruts patient with Clostridium difficile that wasn’t responding to any treatments, he decided his patient should have a transplant. He transplanted some bacteria from her husband .
Prior to the transplant, they observed , her gut bacteria was brutally depleted . “The usual bacteria just couldn’t be found in her,” said Dr. Khoruts. “She was colonized by all sorts of misfits.” Fourteen days after the transplant , the donated bacteria were dominant . “That community was able to function and cured her condition quickly” .
To state that the medical community was taken aback with the outcome is something of an understatement. It shouldn’t be. Researchers are regularly astonished by the complexity , impact , and sheer number of microbes that have colonized our systems . We have over ten times more microbes than cells.
We end up with populations composed of different species, but those species usually carry out the same necessary chemistry that we need to be healthy . One of those jobs is breaking down complex plant molecules. We have a completely inadequate number of enzymes encoded in the human genome, so we need extra microbes. As well as supporting the digestive function , the microbiome helps us in many other ways. The microbes in our nasal passage , for example, make antibiotics that can kill the dangerous pathogens we inhale .
In order to work in harmony with our microbiome own bacteria population , our immune system has to be able to tolerate thousands of harmless bacteria , while attacking unfriendly ones . Researchers are finding that the microbiome itself guides the immune system to the proper balance. One way the immune system fights pathogens is with inflammation. Too much inflammation can be harmful , so we also have immune cells that produce inflammation-reducing signals. With their ability to contain unrestrained free radicals, antioxidant populations also support an inflammation fighting function.
Scientists are finding new links between the microbiome and our health. And they’re learning that many illnesses are accompanied by big swings in the composition of our inner ecosystems. For example people with asthma have a different collection of bacteria in their lungs than healthy people. Obese people also have a different set of species in their guts than people of normal weight.
Some surveys indicate that babies delivered by Caesarian section are more likely to get skin infections because they possibly lack the protective shield of bacteria from their mother’s birth canal. Caesarean sections have also been linked to an increase in allergies and asthma in children . So have the increased use of antibiotics in the U.S. and other developed countries. Farm children — can pick up healthy dose of bacteria from the soil — are less prone to getting autoimmune disorders than their peers who grow up in cities.
We consistently underestimate the importance of microbes and bacteria to our health and our medical profession has been too quick to take out their pads of paper and write up prescriptions for antibiotics and synthetic drugs. Digestive enzymes, probiotics supplements and natural support for our immune systems might be a more thoughtful route to take in the future if we want to change this trend.