39 trillion bacteria on the human body

New research by an international team of scientists shows that an average person carries 1.3 times the number of bacteria in their bodies.

According to IFL Science, the human body is home to many micro organizations, collectively referred to as human microorganisms . In addition to the abundance of bacteria, this system also includes fungi and bacteria.

Bacteria in human gut.(Photo: The Huffington Post).

In a study published January 6 in the journal BioRxiv, Israeli and Canadian scientists reviewed the findings in the 1970s. According to the old study, the number of bacteria on the human body amounted to 100 billion. billions This result is based on calculating the number of bacteria in a gram of human feces (100 billion), and multiplying by 1,000 due to the hypothesis that the bacteria are distributed evenly around the digestive tract with a volume of one liter.

Scientists have previously suggested that the human body normally contains 10 billion cells, mostly red blood cells and concludes that each person has 10 times the number of bacteria in the body.

However, the authors of the new study deny previous findings. They confirmed that the bacteria were not evenly distributed along the gastrointestinal tract but concentrated mainly in the colon . According to their calculations, in the feces contain about one third of human microorganisms.

Based on this information, researchers estimate a man of 20-30 years old, 1.7 meters tall and weighs 70kg can carry 3.9 x 1013 (39 trillion) bacteria and 3.0 x 1013 cells, corresponding to a ratio of 1.3: 1.

The team acknowledged that this ratio may vary between individuals due to differences in body weight as well as the biology of the intestine, but they believe the new finding helps refute the previous false conclusion about correlation between the number of bacteria and cells in the human body.