Our unidentified organisms

Perhaps only about 10% of the cells in the human body belong to the host and the rest are microbial forms. Many of the wide range of microbes cannot be cultured by routine or any known culture systems. However, these colonizing organisms that cannot be grown can be identified by their RNA or DNA fingerprints. In this issue of The Journal, Mshvildadze et al describe the populations of organisms in the gut of preterms. They find that organisms are present antenatally, and preterm infants who develop necrotizing enterocolitis have differences in gut organisms from infants without necrotizing enterocolitis. This report is an initial evaluation of what will certainly rapidly expand in complexity as these molecular techniques are applied to larger populations. In the near future such evaluations may reliably predict diseases and suggest treatment options.