The human microbiome: Me, myself, us | The Economist

[Guest guest]

Nice overview:

http://www.economist.com/node/21560523

excerpt:

That bacteria can cause disease is no revelation. But the diseases in

question are. Often, they are not acute infections of the sort

20th-century medicine has been so good at dealing with (and which have

coloured doctors' views of bacteria in ways that have made medical

science slow to appreciate the richness and relevance of people's

microbial ecosystems). They are, rather, the chronic illnesses that are

now, at least in the rich world, the main focus of medical attention.

For, from obesity and diabetes, via heart disease, asthma and multiple

sclerosis, to neurological conditions such as autism, the microbiome

seems to play a crucial role.

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