Interdisciplinarity and enteric infectious diseases

Understanding the mechanisms of microbial disease requires a variety of approaches. Traditional microbiologists have studied microbial pathogens, focusing in particular on disease-causing factors (virulence factors). Immunology and cell biology have studied host cell responses to these pathogens. More recently, it has become clear that the third key player in these interactions is the microbiota, i.e. all the symbiotic microbial flora that inhabit our cutaneous and mucosal surfaces. For this reason, the study of host-pathogen interactions requires a variety of techniques and knowledge from different disciplines. Examples of enteric pathogens illustrate the wide variety of approaches and techniques used to study these bacterial diseases, and help prevent or cure them.