The Microbatome and Intestinal Microflora in Diverticular Disease

Abstract

The microflora of the human gastrointestinal tract contain 10 14 organisms, more bacteria than make up the body. The largest number is in the colon, and the anaerobes outnumber the aerobes by 100 or 1000:1. The anaerobic species of Bacteroides, Eubacterium, and Bifidobacterium usually predominate, and usually the most common organism is Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Other details are described in this study. Of note is that there are changes in the normal flora in patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease and the irritable bowel syndrome. As diverticular disease and diverticulitis seem to have some chronic inflammatory component to their pathophysiology, it is suspicious that there is a dysbiosis, but we have not had studies published on the flora in diverticular disease. Further suspicion of the role of a dysbiotic flora is raised since the initial reports that both mesalamine, an anti-inflammatory agent, and probiotics, either Escherichia coli Nissle or Lactobacillus casei, have been effective in controlling recurrent attacks. The details of these studies are described.