Lung Health

Healthy lungs are home to bacterial communities, just as healthy intestines and skin are.That was one finding of new research that also showed that while patients with cystic fibrosis may be hampered by the bacterial communities that live in their lungs, it is the composition of these colonies, rather than their mere presence, that causes problems."For many years, people have considered the lung to be a relatively sterile organ," said study researcher Dr. David Cornfield, a professor of pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine. "This provides some of the first and most definitive data that there is a forest of flora that exist in the lung, that are present even in the healthy lung."The finding also suggests that   probiotics could help in the treatment   of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that results from receiving copies of a recessive gene from both parents. The disorder results in thicker, stickier mucus in the lungs and other organs, which allows certain bacter...

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