kqedscience:

Microbe census maps out human body’s viruses, amoebas, other bugs

“After five years of toil, a consortium of several hundred U.S. researchers has released a detailed census of the myriad bacteria, yeasts, viruses and amoebas that live, eat, excrete, reproduce and die in or on us.

Each of us is home to about 100 trillion microscopic life forms — a figure that’s about 10 times higher than the number of cells in the human body. In a 200-pound adult, these organisms can weigh a combined 2 to 6 pounds.

The vast majority of our microscopic denizens appear to be bacteria; 10,000 types may choose to make Homo sapienshome, the scientists found.”