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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Oct 4.
Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2012 Mar 16;148(6):1258–1270. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.01.035

Figure 2. Effect of Interactions of Bacteria, Viruses, and Eukaryotes in Health and Disease.

Figure 2

Diseases have been traditionally studied under a paradigm of “one microbe, one disease.” However, a new understanding is emerging on how disease phenotypes are actually a result of complex interactions between bacteria, viruses, and eukaryotes, as well as their interactions with the host or with certain drugs. Virulence of some eukaryotes is, for instance, linked to the presence of certain bacteria, such as in the case of E. histolytica and E. coli or S. dysenteriae. The susceptibility of the host to viral infections is conditioned by the particular configuration of the microbiota, whereas herpesvirus infection can confer resistance to certain bacterial infections. Antibiotics can significantly reshape the composition of the microbiota. As a clear correlation has been observed between many diseases and dysbiosis, the widespread use of antibiotics may be linked to the dramatic increase observed in autoimmune diseases over the last years. Conversely, helminthes confer resistance to autoimmune diseases.