When someone sneezes or coughs, everyone’s immediate response is to move out of range. We are familiar with germs that can get us sick, causing infectious diseases such as the flu or a cold. However, what is less commonly known is that non-infectious diseases such as some cancers as well as Alzheimer’s disease are actually caused by similar microbes.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one such example, associated with parasites and noroviruses, and similarly inflammatory bowel disease. Additionally, while genetics and environmental factors are still significant impactors, recent studies have also shown growing evidence that the gut microbiota plays a role in influencing obesity. Two other examples, among likely a long list of diseases, include asthma and diabetes.
For those of us entering healthcare and medical fields, understanding how microbes interact with the human body is crucial to understanding disease pathology. I initially did not actually know that microbes influenced diseases like Alzheimer’s, and only thought of diseases such as IBS and inflammatory bowel disease where the presence of microbes is obvious. With this in mind, I am extremely excited to learn more about microbial influences in different diseases so that I can develop a better understanding of how we are able to treat and ideally cure these diseases.
