Microbiome Contributions to Health

Abstract

The human microbiome is vast and is present in spaces previously thought to be sterile such as the lungs. A healthy microbiome is diverse and functions in an adaptive way to support local as well as organism health and function. Furthermore, a normal microbiome is essential for normal immune system development rendering the array of microbes that live in and on the human body key components of homeostasis. A wide array of clinical conditions and interventions including anesthesia, analgesia, and surgical intervention may derange the human microbiome in a maladaptive fashion with bacterial responses spanning decreased diversity to transformation to a pathogenic phenotype. Herein, we explore the normal microbiome of the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and the lungs as prototype sites to describe the influence of the microbiomes in each of those locations on health, and how care may derange those relations.

Keywords: antibiotic agents; inflammation; microbe; microbiome; surgery; surgical site infection.

FIG. 1.

Dominant constituents of the microbiota of various regions of the body are presented in three tiers: location, phylum (with selected genera), and surgery and intensive care unit (ICU)-related conditions associated with microbiota abnormality.