With a Little Help from my Enteric Microbial Friends

Although the disciplines of bacteriology and virology frequently come together in the setting of a diagnostic medical microbiology laboratory, the two scientific fields are usually miles apart. The microbiologists basically form two non-overlapping groups of scientists, the bacteriologists and virologists, which go to separate meetings and do not easily intermingle. Some recent research findings about elegant virus-bacterium interactions may change this situation. Obviously, interactions between these two microbes can occur only when they colocalize, which most likely occurs in the gut/intestines where 10(14) commensal bacteria reside (the microbiota). We review findings on the following enteric microbial tandems: norovirus - Enterobacter cloacae, mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) - bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), poliovirus and reovirus - intestinal bacteria. The close bacterium-virus interplay may also present options to develop unique therapeutic strategies for those infected, and to prevent further virus spread, and thus minimize the risk for the community