- The normal human flora comprises bacteria and yeasts; moreover, bacterial cells outnumber the host's cells by 10:1.
- Microorganisms of the normal flora are "commensals" because they benefit the host, but do not harm it.
- Individual's specific microbiome is influenced by hygiene, diet, water sources, drugs and medications, and exposure to environmental toxins.
- The normal flora impacts human health and disease:
– The microbiome guides immune system development.
– Protects against colonization by pathogenic microbes; and, in the gut, contributes to digestion and metabolism.
– The human microbiome is also associated with pathology.
- Opportunistic pathogens are members of the normal flora that cause disease in immunosuppressed individuals or if the microbes move to a new anatomical niche.
- Strict pathogens are micro-organisms that always cause disease.
- Dysbiosis, aka, dysbacteriosis, occurs when disruption of the normal flora allows pathogenic microbes to flourish.
– For example, some antibiotics kill off protective microbes in the gut, therefore facilitating overgrowth of toxin-producing microbes.
Comprises the human host plus its microbiome; this is sometimes referred to as a "superorganism."
- The core microbiome comprises those microorganisms present in more than 95% of individuals at specific anatomical sites.
- The secondary microbiome comprises the microorganisms that are more variable among individuals.