Question: Does everyone have the same microbes?

Katie Fala answered on 12 Nov 2019:

Not really, no! When you look at the family level of the bacteria there might be broad similiarities, but if you get down in to the nitty gritty of different species and strains of bacteria, there is a lot of variation between the microbiota of different people. We don’t know exactly what causes people to have particular microbes in their gut or on their skin, but things like diet, gender, exercise, and different diseases/medications seem to play a role. There are many scientists looking at the microbes that people have in order to better detect and diagnose certain diseases as they may be a signal of that disease (but not necessarily the cause of it!). Let me know if you have more questions on this 🙂