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Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 2008;299(19):2265.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Atlanta—Trillions of anonymous microbes travel the human body, living side by side with human cells as ambassadors of good health or instigators of disease. Now, researchers are seeking to not only identify these microbial residents but also to better understand how they act as "communities" to influence disease processes.

During the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases here in March, a trio of researchers discussed how technological advances are pushing diagnostics toward the discovery of new pathogens as well as toward new ways of looking at how and why these microbes cause human illness.

Researchers are studying how organisms such as Fusobacterium nucleatum (shown here in dental plaque) may be part of a community of microbes coexisting in complex infections. (Photo credit: Steve Gschmeissner/www.sciencesource.com)

TANTALIZING EVIDENCE

"There are a number of chronic diseases for which there is tantalizing, piecemeal, reasonable evidence of microbial factors playing some kind . . . [Full Text of this Article]