Missing Microbes

Missing Microbes
By Martin J. Blaser
2014
Henry Holt and Co.
288 pages
ISBN: 9780805098105
LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program

I am a neuroscientist, but I've found myself thinking a lot about microbiome science (traditionally the realm of immunologists and microbiologists) lately. There are a couple of reasons for this. (1) It's one of the areas that has gotten a lot of coverage in the media lately. The communication of scientific results in the popular media is one of my areas of interest,  soI have read a few primary papers in the past couple of months to compare the actual results to the stories in the popular news media. (2) Dr. Jeff Gordon (the microbiologist, not the NASCAR driver) gave a (fantastic!) talk at the annual MSTP retreat that left me with a bunch of questions to do follow up reading on. (3) I have been thinking a lot about non-invasive interventions that influence emotional regulatory brain systems, and it turns out that there is some evidence that probiotics may fall into that category (Curious? Read the abstract here.) Anyway, I was very excited to get a free review copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Dr. Martin Blaser is one of the leaders in the field of microbiome research, and this book serves as an excellent introduction to the biology of the human microbiome, and how and modern medical practices are changing human-bacterial interactions. As a physician-scientist and someone who has done some in depth reading in the field, I found the first few chapters overly simplistic, but I suspect that they are at the right level for the general science reader. (General science readers, please tell me if this impression is correct.) Overall, I think that Blaser's summary of the ongoing research in this field is well-written and clear.

Dr. Blaser's basic thesis is that many modern ailments, including obesity, asthma and allergies, and inflammatory bowel disease, may be related to the alterations in the human microbiome, and that these alterations have been brought on by such practices as overuse of antibiotics and the increased frequency of Cesarean section births. Microbiome studies is a developing and active field of research, with new findings being published practically every day. Blaser's review is fairly comprehensive, and he does a good job describing the methods and findings of specific studies to allow the readers not only to hear the conclusions, but see how those conclusions were reached.

However, I do think that Dr. Blaser is sometimes a little overzealous in his presentation of potential human clinical applications of preclinical (animal) research findings, sometimes taking things one or two steps further than the data specifically supports. My work in science communication has led me to be very wary of stating the potential future implications of work without carefully emphasizing the potential aspect, and Blaser sometimes falls on the wrong side of that divide. To me this is doubly unfortunate because he also misses the chance to describe the future research needed to translate the basic science findings into actual human heath applications. In this time of limited science funding, this is a missed to present the process of translational science to the general public in what I suspect will be a widely read book. A better explanation could have gone far to garner support for research funding, especially in this increasingly "hot" topic in human health.

Overall, this is a very strong book. Perhaps most importantly, it presents one of the more well-articulated and accessible arguments for limiting antibiotic use that I have ever encountered. As a health professional, I can only hope that many of my patients will read it and come to the office ready to engage in an informed discussion of the risks and benefits of choosing antibiotic treatment.

Note: I received a free review copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. The opinions expressed here are my own, and were not influenced by the publisher aside from the fact that I read this book sooner than I might have otherwise because I wanted to write a timely review.