

Modern medicine

Microbes maketh man


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This recent short film from Scandinavia gives insight into a unique technique of Fecal Transplant done at the Karolinska Hospital, Sweden, using "the soup". Let it be clear that this is no ordinary soup. The procedure does not involve the use of antibiotics.


"HOLY SHIT! - can intestinal bugs really cause Parkinson´s ?"


National Geographic had an article a year or two back about an intact female wooly mammoth and its baby found in Siberian permafrost. Upon examing baby's gut, adult mammoth feces were found. Apparently this was to provide the proper bacterial mix to the gut. Intuitive process imbedded in RNA? This species and many more directly and indirectly go thru this process, and comment in article about fecal enema now makes much sense.

Connect The Dots

This concept of a co-habitating symbiotic human-bacteria existence makes the use of ANTIBIOTICS a two edged sword.

Most human acute infections like the flu or an intestinal illness are VIRAL.
Antibiotics have NO EFFECT on these illnesses.
And sometimes we have to tough it out.

Overuse of antibiotics are harmful.

Antibiotics can wipe out our beneficial flora as easily as it kills bad bacteria.

Antibiotic use has to be balanced and wisely applied.

An excellent point. The over-use of general antibiotics may have serious negative long-term impacts. Not that there isn't a place for antibiotics. But a lot of our medical profession is rather cavalier about perscribing them as preventatives when there is no obvious reason to do so.

the overuse of antibiotics HAS serious long-term impacts. Not only regarding the evolution of resistant types of bacteria, but also because it messes around massiely with your own body (as the article implies).
The negative impact factor has been known for quite a while now

It says nothing good. Which is why I'm willing to pay extra for free-range, hormone-free beef. Fortunately, one of my local stores actually has it available. Not cheap...but cheaper than the potential medical costs incurred -- at least for me.


"humans are not single organisms, but superorganisms"

I always thought I was super. Nice of biology to confirm that!

John Hanson

Anecdotally Atkins dieters get sick when they (we) eat grains, yet vegans get sick when they eat meat or fat, and these don't appear to be psychosematic reactions. A study has shown that reagular eaters recieving high doses of fat get inflammed (somewhere in/down there), yet discussion among Atkinsers show very low inflammation levels.

I postulate this could be caused by gut bacteria levels -- bacteria adjust to the chosen diet, and throwing foreign food down the laundry chute creates trouble in the laundry room. I think we need a lot more study in this area.


Norm Robillard in reply to John Hanson

Excellent comment and worthy of study for sure. But IMO the difficult to digest carbs (lactose, fructose, resistant starch, fiber and sugar alcohols) are most likely to be maldigested/malabsorbed and create the biggest ruckus in the laundry room. The exception is people with CF or other conditions who have a specific deficiency in lipase enzyme.
Read more at DigestiveHealthInstitute.org

jason9139 in reply to John Hanson

And may i extend your postulate to suggest that the bacterial adjustment could go 'too far' in the sense that if one goes a great length of time without, say, meat, then the microbes that normally specialize in meat-related metabolism will either die off or be greatly reduced in population and thus effectiveness. This in turn would explain why the meat is 'foreign' to the long-time vegan but not to the red-meat lover.

Anoutsider in reply to jason9139

I agree with your hypothesis, though I lack the science for it. The human alimentary canal is an adaptive organ, and is capable of coping with recolonisation of its bacterial population. One is tempted to theorise this explains diversity in human diets and must have something to do with food allergies. Some medical writers, such as Doctor Mercola (see website), believe in metabolic typing, and argue that individuals need to consider their positions on the spectrum between vegan and carnivore.

Brett F

This area of research is truly incredible and I'm glad to see The Economist bringing greater visibility to the field. One point the article failed to mention is that the microbiome also appears to be critical to the development of a "normal" immune system in humans. Experiments in gnotobiotic (germ-free) mice have demonstrated this effect, albeit to an extreme degree. This has vast implications for public health as autoimmune-type disorders appear to be on the rise, especially in Western countries.
The big question that will define this field in the coming years will be: what exactly constitutes a "normal" microbiome and how is it perturbed in instances of disease? Already, deep sequencing genetic studies have demonstrated that the microbiome of obese individuals is significantly different from that of lean individuals. Better understanding of this connection has tremendous potential to address public health issue #1 and the extreme health costs associated with obesity and related conditions. The first pharma/biotech companies to selectively manipulate the microbiota to a patient's advantage will find a goldmine waiting for them...


If you found this article interesting, I highly recommend checking out this podcast... http://www.radiolab.org/2012/apr/02/

If you've never listened to Radiolab before, it's a great radio show from NPR that features science-related stories and some amazing sound design/production. Best thing on the airwaves today!


Very interesting way of looking at things, and one which makes a lot of sense from an evolutionary perspective.

The most basic multicell organisms look very much like a colony of single cell organisms which are loosely connected. There is no reason why only one species of organism should be involved in this. We already know that there have been "cross-species mixing" in the past, the mitochondria inside our cells was once a separate organism.

I guess there is just no good reason why we should consider only the cells in our body which have identical genetic material when talking about our body.

Also, very happy to see the economist running a science cover!


This is not something new, Ayurveda ( ancient Indian Medical science) has known this and use it to balance the human body for thousands of years. Many diseases can be cured using Ayurveda with this. West only took Yoga from it but they didn't pay attention to rest of the Ayurveda which is a science of Mind, Body and Soul.

Connect The Dots in reply to Nish12

It would be remarkable if the Ayurveda recognized bacteria as a cause of pathology. IT is seeing the invisible...unless you have a microscope.

I doubt they saw pneumonia as a caused by Streptococcus pneunomoniae that required penicillin otherwise resultant mortality is high as 50%.
I would argue Ayurveda Medicine, Pre Civil War Medicine, blood letting, acupuncture, herbs, and leeches...has not benefited mankind as much as simple hand washing.

87vtNsXp2X in reply to Nish12

I remember saying something similar many years ago to a physicist friend, to the effect that the phenemenon he was describing was much the same as one advanced by a pre-Socratic philosopher. He was unimpressed. "Yeah," he said, "a long time ago a lot of people said a lot of things, and some of them were right!" He had a point.

jeeometric in reply to 87vtNsXp2X

Indeed, coming to the right conclusion using the wrong reasoning could be worse than simply staying in the dark. The positive consequences may embolden one to use this same faulty reasoning elsewhere, causing much harm.


Might as well say humanity as a whole is a SUPER super organism where we all accomplish specific tasks that are integral to what the whole needs...

And at that point we might as well call all of life a SUPER DUPER super organism where each one plays a role feeding, sheltering, and balancing so that life can move forward through time together...

And at that point we should just all sit down and watch AVATAR.

the end.



Microbe-capsules may become as popular as multivitamin ones...

Ah Beng

I find it extraordinarily unlikely that microfauna could have a causal link to autism... particularly since I get an earful of recent research in neurodegenerative diseases every night.

Ah Beng in reply to Connect The Dots

Toxoplasmosis is well-studied. Congenital birth defects - and even the speculative link in the article to schizophrenia-like symptoms, anxiety, or depression - are not the same thing as neurodegenerative diseases. There is a possible causal link in the form of dopamine dysregulation, but that at most covers schizophrenia and parkinson's, and dopamine is only one link in a substantive biochemical regulatory pathway, even if lots of people make the mistake of associating these diseases with dopamine only.

Connect The Dots in reply to Ah Beng

Autism is also NOT a neurodegenerative disease.

Your pigeon-holing of neurodegenerative and non-neurodegenerative disease is restrictive.

Rather you should look at pathological processes whether it affects old or young, congenital or acquired.

And the pathology may be the same.
It all may be in the timing.
But older patients are neurodegenerative.
And younger patients are developmentally retarded.

Connect The Dots in reply to Ah Beng

Ah Beng,
IF you had the privilege to know any long term chronic elderly schizophrenics, you probably know they seem to suffer long term neurodegenerative disease: dementia, effects of alcoholism, effects of illicit drug use, and long term use of neuroleptic therapy.
If you did not know their history, you would think them along the Alzheimer spectrum. And a common side effect of Tardive Dyskinesia not unlike Parkinson-like Syndromes.
Yes Schizophrenia is associated with neurodegenerative disease.

elixcell in reply to Ah Beng

I can bet that colonies of pleomorphic organisms resembleing urban slums are feasting on various regions of the brain, ummm
a systemic collapse of the system will allow such concetrations of microbes that need to eat something and the waste is (myco)toxic. it will become a fact one day and all the babbling will fade....
Asprin stared as anti-fugal
Statins also a anti fungal
Anti biotics Mold/fungus/mycotoxic to bateria like the white settlers dicovering America and planting flags on the piles dead brown people.
Hydrazine Sulfate greatest to bring the pleomorphic takeover opps cachexia under control but also of course cure for severe toe fungus... duh etc.. etc.. etc..
It has and will also be an invasion and a victim, with most of every neurodegenerative disease ending in death for pleomorphic organism take over oops.. cachexia,, and the orthodoxys actually separate the deaths of pneumonia oops xray shadow of death pleomorphic colony metropolis or NYC depending on who is reading this and this includes the microbes in your eyes and fingers that may be reading this

Connect The Dots

We know the power of germs in causing epidemics and plagues.

I wanted to give a plug to the Single Greatest Innovation in Public Health that cost nothing. And it prevents bacterial, viral, tuberculosis, parasites, and worms. It can impact first world cities or the poorest nations on earth with immediate long lasting benefits. And it is overlooked and under appreciated by everyone, everyday.


We have a disproportional sense of germs and danger.
Toilet seats have less bacteria than computer keyboards.
Simple Handwashing may save the world by preventing rampant epidemics and other plagues. And permitted congregation of large populations in cities.

And washing made civilization possible.
And hand washing can save the world from Apocalyptic Plagues.
And keep our food safe.
And keep our children healthy.
Germs are also useful. Bacteria/Yeasts has played a historic role in developing civilization. Bread, Beer, Mead and Wine are all the gift of one single microscopic species that is far more important to civilization than gold.


Al Gore wishes he could say he invented hand washing.
Lady MacBeth went a little far, but she was right.

Save humankind by simply washing your hands.
Solutions, in the end, can be simple.


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