An international team of scientists who spent five years studying the stools of 647 Danish babies have made a startling discovery. The diaper samples contained a whopping 10,000 different types of fours – most of which were previously unknown.
Viruses have a really bad reputation, especially since SARS-CoV aka COVID-19 aka Corona. What many people are not aware of, however, is that the vast majority of viruses do not make people or animals sick. Most are so-called bacteriophages. They make up a large part of the human microbiome in the gut – and only infect bacteria.
Actually were about 90% of the viruses found in Danish babies’ diapers are such bacteria killers.
Overall, the researchers from Denmark, Canada and France found 10,000 types of different types of viruses. And because it would be pretty boring reading to list all the viruses found in a large table, the researchers grouped them into virus families and orders in the new study in an “atlas of the diversity of DNA viruses in the intestines of infants”. They found 248 families, of which only 16 were previously known. If you want to know exactly, you can take a look here: Here you can find an interactive version of the atlas.
Sweet idea: The researchers named the 232 newly identified virus families after the children who took part in the study, such as Sylvesterviridae, Rigmorviridae and Tristanviridae.
Smartass knowledge for parents
1. Everyone has their own personal set of bacteriophages and other viruses in their intestines – comparable to a fingerprint. However, the intestinal microbiome is significantly less suitable as a means of identification for mobile phones and iPads.
2. Intestinal virome is not only unique, it also remains stable in adults throughout life, meaning you carry the same set of viruses in old age as you did when you were 20.
3. Immediately after birth, however, this virome in the intestine is very different from that of an adult and only stabilizes after a few years.
When compared to the virome of healthy adults, the researchers found that only about 800 of the 10,000 viruses had previously been detected. This means that when babies are born and the first bacteriophages colonize their digestive tract, their “baby bacteriophages” are gradually replaced by “adult bacteriophages”.
This exchange could be partly related to the bacteria that the viruses infect. The so-called Bifidobacterium species (which we know from milk powder commercials), for example, are very important for the health of infants because they help to digest breast milk. It sounds logical that the viruses that infect bifidobacteria are more likely to be found in babies than adults.
Please refrain from submitting poop diapers for research purposes!
The fact that one batch of Danish baby diapers is enough to find 10,000 new virus species and many unknown virus families shows that we really still know very little about viruses. But science is approaching it – diaper by diaper. And fortunately, the research material won’t run out any time soon.
Mickey Moses
Sources: science alert, theconversation.com
Viruses named like babies are one thing. Babies named like ‘life’, the other. The most beautiful of them here in the video:
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