World Microbiome Day aims
to showcase the vibrant and diverse worlds of microbiomes, and to encourage
public dialogue on their critical importance to human, animal and environmental
health. World Microbiome Day has been developed by APC Microbiome
Ireland, with the inaugural day planned for Wednesday June 27th 2018.
We hope it will become an annual event, and we encourage microbiome researchers
from around the world, working on different microbial worlds to join us and
spread the message of the importance of microbiomes.
World
Microbiome Day Theme for 2018
The theme of the inaugural day is “Mind
our Microbes”. Microbes can
have a bad reputation for causing disease. But, in actual fact, the vast
majority of microbes do not cause any harm, and many are essential for plant,
animal and human life. Taking care of “good” microbes may be more important
than destroying “bad” microbes. A world without microbes is unimaginable (see
why here). Microbes have existed for billions of
years. They are everywhere, including within us. They provide food, safeguard
our health, and shape our bodies.
As scientists learn more about microbes,
and microbiotas, it is becoming increasingly clear that one of the key aspects
critical to health is microbial diversity. For example the more varied the
community of microbes in a particular niche, the more healthy that environment
is. So healthier humans tend to have a greater variety of microbes in their
guts. Humansalso depend on the health of other
microbiomes such as in soil, marine and plants, e.g. for food sources, recycling of
organic matter, nitrogen cycles and biosynthetic capabilities.
So it is imperative that we protect our
microbes, particularly the microbes in us and those in the environment that
contribute to the health of our planet. We have become obsessed with
eliminating bacteria, attacking with antibacterial gels and wipes. But many
microbes are helpful, some may hold the key to fighting global warming,
cleaning up pollution, breaking down plastic and even developing a cure for
cancer. Read
more about how microbes help the environment here.