Estevan Rodriguez
Dr. Edwards
BIO 322I
February 8, 2016
The Human Body and its Microbial Cloud

In one of the very first lectures we received, we learned about the fascinating world of microbes and just how big of a role they play in our lives. Most people would never expect that our bodies are only about 10% human cells compared to the 90% bacteria cells found at any time, leading to an average of 100 trillion microbes in and on their body (Strategists). With that many microbes, there is no possible way that they are all bad, yet you always see commercials for all these numerous disinfectants, such as Lysol or Clorox wipes, claiming to kill 99.99% of bacteria.
With all the focus on killing all the bacteria floating around, I began to wonder just how much good we were killing along with it. I remember growing up some of my family members were sheltered, taught to always wash their hands or disinfect them when they go outside, especially when it came to the newborns. I on the other hand was always playing outside, getting dirty, and acted like a stubborn brat when lectured to clean up after myself. When worrying about all the bacteria outside, no one gave a second thought on just what was inside. For example, in the average adult intestine there are at least 500 different species of microbes at any given time (Wenner 2007). Even babies receive huge amounts of bacteria from the skin contact that occurs during breastfeeding, so all those overly protective first time parents are already bringing their child into contact with bacteria.
In a TED talk given by Jessica Green titled, “Are we filtering the wrong microbes?”, Jessica begins to compare the diversity of microbes found inside of hospitals that use ventilation systems to those that can be found outside. She also creates a chart (see figure 1 below) that explains that although some people may feel “safe”