A study into the gut microbiota of babies identified 10,000 new viral species on dirty diapers, with scientists saying these previously unknown viruses most likely play an important role in keeping the babies healthy.
For their study, scientists at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark spent five years examining the diapers of 647 healthy one-year-old babies enrolled in a long-term childhood asthma research project. They found and mapped a total of 10,000 viral species in the children’s diaper contents—a number 10 times larger than that of bacterial species in the same children.
