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Baby's first microbes sized up

The bugs picked up by newborns guts could bear on later life.

Scientists have logged a year in the life of 14 babies' intestines, and found that our early gut microbes bear a legacy from our very first exposure to bugs. And this early bacterial colony could have a lasting impact on our guts.

Read the story here.

Posted by Helen Pearson on June 1, 2006 11:25 PM |

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Comments

As a family physician who, for years has worked with newborns, I have recommended taking probiotics from birth. I have had the impression that these infants became children with fewer allergies, less asthma and increased resistance to infections.

I have also wondered if, in untreated infants, the tolerance to organisms like Candida species may develop in the presence of a yeast infection - leading to later difficulties clearing GI yeast. Has anyone any thoughts on this?

Posted by: christopher h hassell, md | June 6, 2006 04:15 AM

This is an interesting study & thought provoking. It is important to find out whether these microbes are through any particular mode of transmission. If this is found out then there can reduce the microbial infections and increase the compliance with proper antibiotics.

Posted by: Shanthi Sankaralingam | June 7, 2006 04:23 AM

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