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The Riddle of Bacteria and Cancer

germsThe human body teems with bacteria. These micro-organisms live on the skin, in mucus membranes, on the eyes and in the gut, among other places. The large intestine alone hosts up to 1,000 different species. According to a study published in the January 28, 2016, Cell, an average human hosts about as many bacterial cells as the cells that make up skin, bone, organs and the rest of the body.

“The way that a host animal’s body interacts with bacteria is fundamental to basic survival,” says Susan Erdman, a researcher who studies comparative medicine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. So it’s not surprising that researchers have long studied the interaction between bacteria and cancer.
Read more in this feature story at Cancer Today.