While it’s common knowledge that our stomach contains friendly bacteria, scientists have discovered that our body also has friendly viruses that protects us from deadly bacteria – with E. Coli being one such example.
Dr. Barr, lead author of the study, explains their findings, in saying, “Taking previous research into consideration, we are able to propose the Bacteriophage Adherence to Mucus — or BAM — is a new model of immunity, which emphasizes the important role bacteriophage play in protecting the body from invading pathogens.”
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they believe that what they have uncovered, in the form of an ‘immune system’, will change the way several diseases are treated.
In most cases, infection occurs due to bugs being able to penetrate the surface of our bodies that are exposed to the environment. However, these surfaces also have protective layers of mucus that work as a defence against infection and is also where several friendly microbes such as viruses, bacteria and fungi are located.
But that’s not all – these layers of mucus also contain populations of viruses, known as bacteriophages, that work to protect their hosts against deadly bacteria. Yet the reason why they carry out this function is because they have access to microbes that they can consume for their own survival.
In this latest study, scientists found these “bacteriophages” in the mucus that was taken from several animals such as a sea anemone, mice and even humans – by bonding with the sugars in the mucus.
Interestingly, when they introduced bacteria such as E.Coli to mucus producing and non-mucus producing tissue, they found that the latter had three times the cell death than the former.