3 ms·
It’s a nature paper so it’s directed towards scientists not the general public. But also scientists not necessarily doing research in the space. I’m happy to
by refurb 3y ago
It’s a nature paper so it’s directed towards scientists not the general public. But also scientists not necessarily doing research in the space.
I’m happy to see a bit of myth busting going on. The space is in its infancy but wow do I ever see university press releases touting “microbiome is connected to disease X” a lot and it’s usually based on pretty flimsy evidence.
The field will mature over time and no doubt find some interesting connections to human health, but it seems like there is a mad rush to “keep a healthy microbiome” when in fact we don’t even know that much about what a healthy microbiome looks like beyond a few obvious diseases like c. difficile.
- vjk800 3y agoFrom the article: > As examples, Clostridioides difficile can be carried asymptomatically throughout life, and only cause problems in older age when the host is immunocompromised and treated with antibiotics It seems that even c. difficile is not obviously "bad" .
- refurb 3y agoI noticed this too. My comment was more around the strong connection between antibiotic use, C. difficile overgrowth and resulting harm to health. But that comment is a good point that simply the presence of a bacteria doesn’t tell you anything by itself. Reminds me of the people who harbor MRSA in their nose. MRSA can cause a serious infection, but apparently for some people it doesn’t.