Killing Bacteria with Antimicrobials and Antibiotics May Be Shortsighted, According to New Science About the Microbiome

Gut Health

Killing Bacteria with Antimicrobials and Antibiotics May Be Shortsighted, According to New Science About the Microbiome

Human beings host a vast microbial community, or microbiome, which forms a kind of detached organ with interactions that keep us alive.

Cultivating Our Gut Microbiome to Stifle Disease

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Part 1

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Human microbiome.Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

Modern medicine has progressed in large part by waging war against germs—snuffing out microscopic disease-causing creatures before they kill us.

The 19th-century discovery that microorganisms are the cause of infectious disease—the leading cause of death at the time—led scientists to the consensus that “germs” posed a great danger to humanity, a stance that’s been woven into policy and ideology to this day. Public health advancements in the 20th century proved that controlling infectious outbreaks extended life expectancy and reduced infant and maternal deaths.