Sep 23, 2026 · 23 min · 9 segments
Welcome to the rebroadcast six-episode series: C. difficile: Preparing the Field for Change. This program will explore how to take a patient-centered approach to treatment and diagnosis, explore…
Paul FeuerstadtHost
Sahil KhannaHost
What we're going to be talking about are shifts in the microbiota and alterations of the microbiota.
But I think it's important before we kind of dive in and get focused on C. difficile, let's talk a little bit about the microbiota.
Critical, critical point because people and even clinicians use these terms interchangeably.
When I think about microbiota, I just think about these are the microbes or microorganisms such as bacteria or fungi or protozoans or viruses that exist in nature.
So, you know, it's important that you bring that up because the microbiota and the microbiome for most clinicians and most patients, for that matter, they use that term interchangeably.
As you started to allude to, the microbiota are a group of microorganisms kind of in a located space or a defined space, like the colonic microbiota or the microorganisms in the colon.
And as clinicians, and as this field starts to evolve, I think it's important that we use the correct terminology, just like any other area of medicine.
If we don't use the correct terminology, then we're not necessarily going to understand what somebody else is trying to communicate.
When I think about a change or an imbalance from what was existing when the microbiome was in a healthy state, I think about that as a dysbiosis.
Now the question is, it could be a loss of microbes or it could be a gain of microbes.
But I think when we have to define dysbiosis, before that we think about what's the healthy microbiome? I think that's a more controversial topic.
And that's why, Paul, I'm going to put you on the spot and say, what is a healthy microbiome?
What we're going to be talking about are shifts in the microbiota and alterations of the microbiota.
But I think it's important before we kind of dive in and get focused on C. difficile, let's talk a little bit about the microbiota.
Critical, critical point because people and even clinicians use these terms interchangeably.
When I think about microbiota, I just think about these are the microbes or microorganisms such as bacteria or fungi or protozoans or viruses that exist in nature.
So, you know, it's important that you bring that up because the microbiota and the microbiome for most clinicians and most patients, for that matter, they use that term interchangeably.
As you started to allude to, the microbiota are a group of microorganisms kind of in a located space or a defined space, like the colonic microbiota or the microorganisms in the colon.
And as clinicians, and as this field starts to evolve, I think it's important that we use the correct terminology, just like any other area of medicine.
If we don't use the correct terminology, then we're not necessarily going to understand what somebody else is trying to communicate.
When I think about a change or an imbalance from what was existing when the microbiome was in a healthy state, I think about that as a dysbiosis.
Now the question is, it could be a loss of microbes or it could be a gain of microbes.
But I think when we have to define dysbiosis, before that we think about what's the healthy microbiome? I think that's a more controversial topic.
And that's why, Paul, I'm going to put you on the spot and say, what is a healthy microbiome?
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