Talk:Human flora

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Biology Portal Human flora is part of WikiProject Microbiology, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of microbiology and microbiology-related topics. Please work to improve this article, or visit our project page to find other ways of helping.
Stub	This article has been rated as stub-Class on the assessment scale.
High	This article is on a subject of high-importance within microbiology.
Article Grading: The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Contents 1 Small change 2 good/ bad 3 Most? 4 Question on immune system and normal flora 5 Numbers wrong? 6 Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes 7 Name Change 8 Scientific research into the role of bacteria and Hunger

[edit] Small change

I changed the location to where the link "lowered immunity" was pointing. Before it was an non-excisting article and I changed it to "Immune System". If you feel that the change was for the worst please feel free to change it back.

[edit] good/ bad

there is good and bad bacteria! what happens when you dont have the good bacteria and what should you do about it and what are or if any symptoms?

You can survive, but you may not digest food as well or get as much nutrition out of your food. "Bad" bacteria may take the opportunity to grow too much in your intestines. You may get diarrhea and feel sick. See a doctor if you think this is happening to you. There are supplements called probiotics that can replace the "good" bacteria in your gut. See the page on gut flora that has a lot more info on this. delldot | talk 20:10, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Most?

The first line of the article says that most of the bacteria in/on the body perform "tasks that are useful or even essential to human survival". Can anyone verify this or cite a source? I wonder if I should maybe tag it with {{Fact}}? Thanks, delldot | talk 20:10, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Question on immune system and normal flora

I was curious why the body's immune system doesn't attack the normal flora and came here to try to find that. Could someone explain (and add to the article?) why this is the case? Thanks.

Well, none of those bugs are invasive. They don't destroy the gut wall and are therefore not tagged as "harmful" by the immune system. I'm not sure if this is the right page to discuss this phenomenon - it's a list. JFW | T@lk 20:56, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

Normal flora is (generally) not pathogenic. There's no need to defend against them, so the body doesn't. We have a commensal relationship, such as breaking down food. Not mentioned in the article, because our skin is COVERED with bacteria, we have a living shield against many bacteria that may be pathogenic; normal flora protects us against other bacteria (or often fungi). We have simply learned that it is best not to kill our tiny friends. Eedo Bee 14:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Numbers wrong?

This article and the article on Gut Flora disagree on the (1) the number of human cells in the body and (2) the number of bacteria. This kind of disagreemtn is what frightens me about the Wikipedia. Can someone with the knowledge please correct. Goaty 02:46, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

This article was most likely wrong as it contradicts its source. I wonder what AxelBoldt was thinking by making the change without even explaining the edit. Put 10¹³ for the amount of cells and 10¹⁴ for the amount of bacteria back where they supposedly belong. 202.162.85.116 00:41, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

There should definitely be some sort of citation for those numbers of scale comparison (bacterial cell numbers vs. somatic cell numbers). I have read estimates of 10 trillion body cells in the average adult. 10,000,000,000,000 (10¹³) --Frenkmelk 01:56, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes

These articles might be useful for this page: PMID 16033867, PMID 17183309, and PMID 17183312. Ninjatacoshell 19:26, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Name Change

The title "Bacteria in the human body" in lieu of "Normal Flora" is misleading, as not all normal flora is bacterial, just microbial. We have non-pathogenic levels of fungi and sometimes parasitic animals (nematodes) that are considered "Normal Flora". Appreciation of the basic differences between the Domains of life is a must. Eedo Bee 15:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I would ask that a moderator change the name, this issue was posed a considerably long time ago (relatively). Normal Flora is the appropriate name. Eedo Bee 13:31, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Scientific research into the role of bacteria and Hunger

I don't have access to specific documents, just a hyper link to title and information numbers... Dynamics of intragastric bacteria plexus in early morning hunger. If someone who could use this url to find information that might be suitable to inclusion on this page, it might be interesting. the url is from a japanese researcher..just a though though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kesuki (talk • contribs) 21:56, 13 March 2008 (UTC)