Inflammatory Diseases

Overview

While pathogens persist on the mucosal surfaces, they are also present in tissue and blood. There is growing evidence that signature/unique blood microbiomes

may be associated with one or more chronic inflammatory diseases. Polybacterial and chronic infections have been detected in atherosclerotic plaque.

Chronic inflammatory disease appears to be polymicrobial

In the era of the metagenome, efforts to understand chronic disease have forced a shift from reliance on this “one microbe, one disease” model to a focus on how entire populations of microbes can become dysregulated by their pathogenic participants. It is most likely that the structure of entire communities of microbes shift in individuals as they become ill. Indeed, one of the main goals of the HMP was to compare populations of microbes in healthy individuals with equivalent populations of microbes in their diseased counterparts.

Numerous studies have revealed widespread discrepancies in the composition of microbial communities among healthy and ill individuals in chronic inflammatory conditions with overlapping symptoms to CFS/ME. These diseases include Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome , rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 and 2 diabetes.