How Microbes Defend and Define Us

I guess I've been blessed with being immersed in genetics for most of my career that almost nothing in this article is news to me (didn't know about good microbes in the lungs, but it makes sense - it's a wet, warm environment open to the outside world that needs defending). I'm such a geek that when I went to India, I was looking forward to getting my gut exposed to completely novel microbes (in regards to my usual environment) and increasing its diversity - thus making it better able to respond to whatever comes through in the future. (I did not look forward to, nor enjoy, the diarrhea that resulted as my body tried to cope with the influx of newcomers, but it was a necessary evil. At least I wasn't as bad as my hubby who couldn't even fart with confidence for 2 months after our trip!).

Much like the push to make people wear sunscreen every. minute. of. the. day. was an overboard response for 99% of the population and has resulted in increasing numbers of those deficient in Vitamin D, the push to "kill all germs" is an overboard response to reducing disease. The focus should be on isolating and targeting those individual bacteria, viruses, and fungi that cause problems and leaving intact the beneficial ones.

Hopefully as this research gets more exposure, everyone will start realizing that we must live in harmony with our environment. Yes, there are bacteria and viruses that will cause disease, but they must be dealt with individually and specifically. Unless it's proven that I have a bacterial infection and I'm absolutely miserable, I refuse to take antibiotics - they kill too much of my good biota, and the antibiotics go on to infiltrate the environment once passed through my body and allow bacteria out there to develop resistance they otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to. I also refuse to use products containing triclosan; it too kills good bacteria and is implicated in having other harmful effects.