I am writing this post as part of an assignment for one of my college courses: BHS 323 – Microbial Influences on Human Health. I have been tasked with listing as many non-infections diseases that are influenced by microorganisms as I can think of. Hopefully, I can think of a decent amount; I guess we will see as I go!

• Cancers
  • Cervical cancer, which can be caused by oncoviruses such as human papillomavirus (HPV).
  • Gastric cancer, which can be caused by lesions and subsequent neoplasms induced by the bacterium H. pylori.
  • Kaposi sarcoma, a type of rare skin cancer usually only found in individuals suffering from the late phase of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
• Tetanus, a disease caused by C. tetani which causes painful constitutive contraction of the muscles.
• Botulism, a type of food poisoning caused by ingestion of botulinum toxin.
• Many cases of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can be caused by dysregulation of the gut microbiome.
  

Listing these diseases (especially non-infectious ones) was much more difficult than I originally anticipated! In my time as an undergraduate student studying biomedical topics, I feel as though the focus on microbial life has been when talking about infectious diseases. I’ve seldom learned about the ways in which microbial life interacts with our species in non-infectious disease states. I am very excited to learn more about this topic throughout the term! Hopefully I will be able to construct a longer and more comprehensive list by December 🙂