Scientists find viruses in intestines of new born babies
Q. In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers found viruses living in the intestines of :- Published on 16 Sep 15a. Old men & women
b. Newborn babies
c. Toddlers
d. Adults
ANSWER: Newborn babies
Scientists have found viruses in intestines of new born babies dispelling the notion that only bacteria invade and colonise the baby's gut after birth. The study was carried out by Washington University of Medicine on 8 healthy infants. Researchers noted that some of the viruses they identified are known to infect cells of the human host, but others actually infect the bacteria.They also found that the kinds of viruses that infect bacteria, not human cells, were the most rich and diverse earliest in an infant's life and then their numbers fell.
They also showed that strains of bacteria did the opposite, starting out with low numbers early and becoming more diverse as the babies grew into toddlers. The researchers also observed a relatively large diversity of a kind of virus that infects human cells called anellovirus which seems to reflect a person's immune status, with more viruses present when the immune system is weaker. Nearly all of the anelloviruses identified in this study were previously unknown.
