Microbial associations in human biotopes as a factor determining the occurrence of polymicrobial infections

Abstract

Every year, information is accumulated on the participation of opportunistic microorganisms in the initiation of inflammatory diseases in humans, maintaining a chronic inflammatory response and, thus, adapting to the conditions of existence in the biotopes of the human body. This review provides information on the interactions of microorganisms of medical importance, which affects the virulence of both opportunistic pathogens and classical pathogens, which probably underlies the chronicity of infectious and inflammatory processes. Often, separately opportunistic pathogenic species cannot fully realize their pathogenic potential, which is observed in a greater number of cases under conditions of microbial symbiosis. In general, a revision of approaches to interpreting the results of microbiological methods is required, which involves taking into account the functional activity of the total microflora, as well as the search for individual extrachromosomal genetic elements as a marker of the pathogenicity of a combination of microorganisms.