Excuse Me, But is that a Virus in Your Gut?

In recent years the “microbiome” has gotten a lot of good press.   News articles variously describe it as a complex community of bacteria and fungi that colonizes the human body.  Most people think of the microbiome as being in their gut, but it in fact also inhabits your lungs, skin and even blood.  These trillions of bugs help control digestion and benefit your immune system.   Now that you’ve heard of the microbiome, the next discovery you should know about is the “virome” — which is the name for the new realization that viruses are also a key part of your microbiome.

One of the most common viruses in your gut is a recently discovered family of viruses called Anelloviridae.   These viruses seem to be present in all humans.   So far there are no known diseases that are caused by these viruses.   In fact, instead of causing disease, scientists think these viruses help the human body by modulating your body’s immune system.

The first bacteria, fungi and viruses in your microbiome and your virome first entered your gut immediately after birth, and have persisted and flourished there ever since.   Little was known about the viruses in your body until the last two decades.  In fact, Anelloviridae was not even discovered until 1997 and even then its discovery was a bit of an accident when Japanese scientists found the Torque Teno virus (TTV) in a single patient.   Since then scientists have learned that there are at least a couple hundred different types of Anelloviridae, and that they are found in a variety of mammals.

To date there is no hard evidence that Anelloviridae cause any diseases, but there is some data that indicates that certain Anelloviridae are coincident with diseases such as hepatitis and might be associated with higher mortality rates.  Whether they are harmfully “pathogenic” is sure to be a future hot research topic.

~~ Robert Carr