Bacteria Research: Competition between 'good bacteria' important for healthy gut ♦ Researchers develop antibiotic alternative for wound infections

Competition between 'good bacteria' important for healthy gut The vital ecosystem of bacteria in the human gut operates like a jungle, with competition between microbes helping maintain the stability necessary to keep us health

Controlling levels of specific gut bacteria could help prevent severe diarrhea Everyone has suffered from it. It's ranged from mild to severe. It's a condition that's most-often described in a whisper. Diarrhea. Severe cases of diarrhea, however, are no joking matter. New research may offer patients suffering from acute cases new treatments that focus on intestinal microbial communities to prevent the disease.

Researchers develop antibiotic alternative for wound infections For the first time, researchers have discovered how electrical stimulation works for the treatment of bacterial infections, paving the way for a viable alternative to medicinal antibiotics. The researchers passed an electric current over a film of bacteria and in 24 hours killed almost all of a multidrug resistant bacterium that is often present in difficult-to-treat infections. The remaining bacterial population was 1/10,000th of its original size.

The gut microbiota can influence the effectiveness of dietary treatments Why a dietary treatment works for some but not others seems to depend on interactions between the gut microbiota and the diet. A new study shows that people with better control of blood sugar after eating barley kernel bread also have a different balance of microbes in the gut.