A new research has revealed that a normal viral flora that is rich and complex exists in and on healthy human body too.
The new research at Washington University School of Medicine, which is the first comprehensive analysis to describe the diversity of viruses in healthy people, reported that healthy individuals carry about five types of viruses on their bodies.
In 102 healthy young adults aged 18 to 40, the researchers sampled up to five body habitats, nose, skin, mouth, stool and vagina and detected at least one virus in 92 percent and found that some individuals harbored 10 to 15 viruses.
Lead author Kristine M. Wylie said that they were impressed by the number of viruses they found on sampling up to five body sites in each person and would expect to see many more viruses if they had sampled the entire body.
The researchers don’t know yet whether the viruses have a positive or negative effect on overall health but speculate that in some cases, they may keep the immune system primed to respond to dangerous pathogens while in others, lingering viruses increase the risk of disease.
Not surprisingly, the vagina was dominated by papillomaviruses, with 38 percent of female subjects carrying such strains and some of the women harbored certain high-risk strains that increase the risk of cervical cancer.
These strains were more common in women with communities of vaginal bacteria that had lower levels of Lactobacillus and an increase in bacteria such as Gardnerella, which is associated with bacterial vaginosis.
Co-author Gregory Storch added that it is very important to know what viruses are present in a person without causing a problem and what viruses could be responsible for serious illnesses that need medical attention.
The study is published online in BioMed Central Biology. (ANI)