Beneficial microbes: health or hazard?

Normal microbial flora support the health of the host by diverse mechanisms . When antibiotics, stress, disease or medications disrupt normal microflor a, the ability to ward off infection by pathogens is compromised. The use o f beneficial microbes (also known as biotherapeutic agents, probiotics, syn biotics) has been shown to be an effective therapeutic agent for some disea ses. Various types of diarrhoea (antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, Clostridi um difficile disease, traveller's diarrhoea) are most responsive to these b eneficial microbes. Serious risks associated with these microbes are largel y theoretical at this point, but the risks need to be studied as the use of these beneficial microbes increases in popularity.