{"id":206213,"date":"2020-01-28T22:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T21:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=206213"},"modified":"2020-01-28T22:00:50","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T21:00:50","slug":"non-communicable-diseases-may-be-transmissible-after-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/non-communicable-diseases-may-be-transmissible-after-all\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Non-communicable diseases&#8221; may be transmissible after all"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2018, a study carried out by T\u00fcbingen researchers caused a sensation when they discovered that, contrary to general belief, Alzheimer&#8217;s disease might be transmissible. However, an international team of researchers is now adding to the controversy surrounding the potential transmission of &#8220;non-communicable diseases.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Until now, scientists have assumed that conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer or specific lung diseases (which currently account for up to 70 % of non-natural deaths worldwide) are among these &#8220;non-communicable diseases.&#8221; The World Health Organization (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.euro.who.int\/en\/home\">WHO<\/a>) believes that they are caused by a combination of genetic predispositions along with lifestyle and environmental factors. The possibility of transmission from person to person had previously been ruled out.<\/p>\n<p>However, a team from the &#8220;Humans &amp; the Microbiome&#8221; program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cifar.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CIFAR<\/a>), together with the participation of Professor Thomas Bosch from the Christian-Albrechts-Universit\u00e4t zu Kiel (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uni-kiel.de\/en\/\">CAU<\/a>, Germany), has now found convincing evidence that many conditions classified as non-communicable diseases could potentially be passed on from person to person via microbiome. The scientists wrote in the <a href=\"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/367\/6475\/250\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Science<\/em><\/a> journal that intestinal flora is involved in the transmission process as well. &#8220;If our hypothesis turns out to be correct, it will completely redefine our view of public health,&#8221; says Brett Finlay, Professor of Microbiology at the University of British Columbia and head of the CIFAR research programme &#8220;Humans &amp; the Microbiome.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_206197\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-206197\" style=\"width: 473px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-206197\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/F1.large_-473x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"473\" height=\"600\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-206197\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graphics: V. Altounian\/Science<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The scientists were able to prove that those with various conditions such as obesity, certain bowel diseases, cardiovascular disease or even type 2 diabetes, human microbiome exhibited substantial differences compared to those with healthy bodies. In addition, they found a wealth of evidence in laboratory experiments that these modified microbiomes led to diseases in previously healthy models of organisms. For example, a mouse of normal weight became overweight after the intestinal microbiome of an obese mouse was transferred to it. &#8220;Summing up these facts suggests that many diseases that are not traditionally considered to be communicable could well be transferable,&#8221; Finlay says.<\/p>\n<h3>Transmission of microorganisms also possible between human beings<\/h3>\n<p>Researchers from the Bosch group at the University of Kiel support this hypothesis. &#8220;If laboratory animals such as freshwater polyps are not kept separately, but instead for a certain amount of time in a collective living environment, the microbiome first adapts to each other, and then its physical appearance and how it manifests align with each other,&#8221; Bosch explains. His team was able to show that the microbes pass from one individual directly to another. &#8220;It is possible that this microorganism transfer also takes place when people are co-habiting. For instance, through close social contacts or in shared apartments,&#8221; Bosch conjectures.<\/p>\n<p>The authors concede that their hypothesis is somewhat bold and that many of the mechanisms involved are as yet unknown. For one thing, it&#8217;s still hasn&#8217;t been established in which cases this type of transmission intensifies. Or whether &#8220;a healthy state can also be transferred,&#8221; says co-author Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Further research is needed in order to find this out. However, the researchers stress that there is undoubtedly a significant link between a disrupted microbiome and many diseases.<\/p>\n<h3>Further research into transmissibility<\/h3>\n<p>In future research scientists hope to find out how the microbiome interacts with specific environmental conditions and genetic factors involved in the transfer of diseases, for one thing. &#8220;The new hypothesis makes it clear that we need to consider disruptions in the microbial colonization of the body much more than before as a cause of disease. Also we need to explore potential transmission routes more closely,&#8221; says Bosch. &#8221; This aspect will be one of the spearheads of our work at our Metaorganism Collaborative Research Center over the next few years.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2018, a study carried out by T\u00fcbingen researchers caused a sensation when they discovered that, contrary to general belief, Alzheimer&#8217;s disease might be transmissible. However, an international team of researchers is now adding to the controversy surrounding the potential transmission of &#8220;non-communicable diseases.&#8221; Until now, scientists have assumed that conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1660,"featured_media":519111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34665],"tags":[46585,41571,34965,46587,46589],"location":[24456],"article_type":[],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-206213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-infectious-diseases","tag-medical-research","tag-microbiome","tag-non-communicable-diseases","tag-university-of-kiel","location-germany"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Petra Wiesmayer","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/petra-wiesmayer\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/F1.large_-267x300.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Health<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">infectious diseases<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">medical research<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">microbiome<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">non-communicable diseases<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">University of Kiel<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">infectious diseases<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">medical research<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">microbiome<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">non-communicable diseases<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">University of Kiel<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 6 years ago","modified":"Updated 6 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on January 28, 2020","modified":"Updated on January 28, 2020"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on January 28, 2020 10:00 pm","modified":"Updated on January 28, 2020 10:00 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1660"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206213"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=206213"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=206213"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=206213"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=206213"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=206213"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=206213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}