"...birth exposes the newborn to the microbiota of the mother, setting in motion the colonization of mucosal tissues in the digestive, respiratory, and urogenital tracts, and the skin by a diverse microbiota, which we coexist with throughout our lives. The complex and dynamic interaction between the microbiota and its human host is the culmination of nearly half a billion years of co-evolution with vertebrates that has reciprocally shaped the repertoires of the microbiota and the immune system, such that microbiota inhumans is normally restrained and well-tolerated.
"Estimated at approximately 100 trillion organisms, most of which are bacteria..., the microbiota numbers about ten times the total cells in the human body with the greatest density populating the distal ileum and colon."
Maynard et al. Nature 489 pg 231 - 241 = LINK
Yup. These few words summarize how we are born into a world of bacteria, how it comes to colonize certain areas of our body, and how that co-existence is a mutually beneficial prospect for both the bacteria and its human host (you).
This harkens back to a previous post I put in Mini-Amedeo about all the different bacteria living in and on our bodies. Scientists are studying the cross-sections of these microbes to understand why some people develop diseases, particularly Crohn's, inflammatory bowel syndrome, and cancer, but others do not. Nature has several articles dedicated to current updates; it is fascinating. LINK
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