Virome Affects Host Immune Status, Susceptibility to Range of Diseases

Abstract

While the limelight shines on the bacterial microbiome for its role in shaping human health and disease, the virome remains more in the shadows. However, viruses associated with human hosts can have profound impacts on their health, according to several researchers who spoke during the ASM 2016 Microbe Conference held in Boston last June. Even though some chronic viral infections appear asymptomatic, the viral particles being generated during such latent periods can stimulate innate immune responses, dictating immune reactivity as well as susceptibility to infections and inflammatory and other diseases, including cancer.