Personally I had never considered the food choices I make and how it would influence my gut microbiota until I started taking this class. When I think about intentional choices that I make affect my gut microbiota I think about me eating sushi and how that probably affects my gut microbiota because of the raw fish. I am not sure whether that would have a positive or negative affect on my gut microbiota.  I think drinking kombucha throughout the day also affects my gut health (in a positive way I hope). I think kombucha would benefit my body just because it has probiotics to aid in digestion. I also think the oil I cook my food in and how much I use also play a part in affecting my gut microbiota. My choice of milk and consumption of dairy products can also play a role in affecting my gut microbiota. A nutritional choice I make unconsciously that might affect my gut microbiota is  eating the traditional foods my grandparents would make when I was younger. I know in my culture it’s normal to eat lots of red meat that’s normally cooked in too much oil with just some beans and rice. I think when I was younger and I used to have sugar for breakfast (like pan dulce and sweet cereals) I probably caused some imbalances in my gut microbiota as well.

In their research article entitled “Effect of the bivalent HPV vaccine on viral load of vaccine and non-vaccine HPV types in incident clearing and persistent infections in young Dutch females” (2019), Van der Weel et al. concludes that the bivalent vaccine does reduce the amount of HPV 16 and 18 cases while also providing some cross-protective properties that aid in reducing the virus’s viral load. Van der Weel et al. supports their conclusion by obtaining vaginal samples from participants that were vaccinated and unvaccinated, and assessing the viral load of fifteen different HPV strains. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the efficiency of the HPV bivalent vaccine abilities and limitations so that we could research new vaccines that protect us against more HPV strains. Van der Weel et al. establishes a formal tone with medical researchers, as well as other specialties within the medical field. 

Reference: 

Van der Weel P, Breeuwsma M, Donken R, van Logche E, van Marm-Wattimena N, de Melker H,  Meijer C, and King A. 2019.  Effect of the bivalent HPV vaccine on viral load of vaccine and non-vaccine HPV types in incident clearing and persistent infections in young Dutch females. PloS One 14(3), e0212927–e0212927. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212927

While reading “Viruses and Human Cancer: From Deletion to Causality”  by Sarid and Gao (June 2011) I thought it was impressive that scientists had been able to determine a relationship between these viruses and cancer. I think this article helped demonstrate how vaccines can  be effective not only in preventing a virus transmission but also preventing other diseases(in this case human cancers) that could potentially result in death. 

After reading Sarid and Gao’s article on viruses and human cancer  I would recommend to my colleague that we focus on HPV strains 31 and 45 for a treatment. In their article Sarid and Gao state that “ High-risk HPVs 16, 18, 31, and 45 account for ~80% of cervical cancers” (Sarid & Gao, 2011). Although there are other HPV strains, including HPV 51 and 52, those were currently only labeled as “possibly carcinogenic” by  Sarid and Gao. While they could potentially pose a threat to human health, I think we should focus on strains that we know cause risk for patients. I suggest my colleague focus on HPV 31 and 45 because with these strains we are certain that they do have a role in increasing an infected individual’s risk of cancer (this case being cervical cancer). Prevention of HPV transmission lowers transmission of human cancers which is something extremely beneficial as we currently do not have a cure for cancer. I think this treatment should be administered as a vaccine to younger children similar to how the hepatitis B vaccine was administered.

This week in class we were introduced to microbes and how they can play a role in influencing non-infectious diseases. A brief example we discussed in class was gastric ulcers and gastric cancer. When I think of other non-infectious diseases that are influenced by microbes, malaria is one that comes to mind. We know malaria is transmitted through mosquito bites that carry the pathogen and allow it access into our bloodstream. I know colon cancer is another non-infectious disease that can be influenced by the presence of certain microbes as well. Other than the two diseases I mentioned, I personally do not know what other non-infectious diseases are influenced by microbes. I know there are other non-infectious diseases like shingles, but I am not sure if microbes influence that disease. (as well as others.  This writing exercise was personally one of the few times I considered the distinctions between infectious v.s non-infectious diseases. I think subconsciously I group all diseases together even though I know there are differences with how it is passed on, treatments, and cures. I am excited to learn and discuss more about non-infectious diseases and what influences them because this writing assignment made me realize I do not know as much about non-infectious diseases as I thought I did. I am also looking forward to learning about these non-infectious and microbes’ influence on them because I know it will be relevant to my future career field. 

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