A reader forwarded the above test and ask for comments. It is a nice test for the brain fogged because information is presented with graphics and reference controls (CTRL) patients results

The first chart illustrates what many studies report, a major shift of the ratio of bacteroidetes to firmicutes. “patients presented … a decrease in several Firmicutes populations.” [2013][Full Text] This is the general pattern seen with CFS and IBS patients at the highest level. The breakdown under this is where things change with symptoms. Biodiversity decreasing or being normal appears to vary according to how it is calculated.

• “in the stool samples there was a higher relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and lower abundance of Firmicutes observed in ME/CFS patients compared to healthy controls.” [2015]
• “IBD patients have increased bacteroides, adherent or invasive Escherichia coli, and enterococci, and reduced Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus species”.^[40][Medscape]

CFS is one step towards UC and Crohn’s Disease.. “In chronic fatigue syndrome patients they found bacterial profiles with less diversity. This is similar to those seen in people with two bowel diseases: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the researchers said.”

The second chart show several families that are overgrowths. This is followed by a chart looking at specific elements. Notice that often one column is 0 and the other is not, that is, what is normal is not there and what is usually not found, is there.[Cornell University]

So what should be consider for treatment? It is clear that we want to increase Firmicutes. There are more than 270 genera in it, some of these are Lactobacillus, Bacillus, Clostridium, Staphylococcus.   The bottom line is that there are no available probiotics for most of these.

There appear to be some relationships to work from:

• Taking Lactobacillus, increases Lactobacillus and decreases E.Coli and Bifidobacteria in general [2012]
• Taking Bifidobacteria, increases Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria, decreases E.Coli slightly [2012]
• Taking E. Coli, increases Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria [2016]
• E.Coli and Enterococcus probiotics taken together cause a bigger effect than E.Coli alone. (i.e. Symbioflor-2 and Symbioflor-1 taken together, or Mutaflor with Bioflorin)

Bacteria inhibit or encourages other families of bacteria. The relationships are complex and poorly understood — hence we need to both research and hope for data; if no data, experiment on ourselves (taking notes and sharing results — such as in the last post)