title: [Microbial ecology of the colon].
abstract: It has been known for a long time that the human gastrointestinal tract contains 10(14) micro-organisms, which are predominantly anaerobic. Recent research has provided a better understanding of the functions and the equilibrium of the intestinal ecosystem in which the intestinal mucosa and the microbial flora which it supports interact. Any modification in one or other of the constituents of this ecosystem is likely to disturb the normal ecological equilibrium, resulting in a variety of gastro-intestinal diseases. Today, the intestinal ecosystem can be considered to be a system of defence and equilibrium or, conversely, as a reservoir of infection, which is confirmed by the study of certain faecal bacterial profiles with a high risk of infection. In gastrointestinal surgery and paediatrics, the correlation between antibiotic therapy, intestinal microbial proliferation and the development of septicaemia confers a fundamental role of the defence barriers of the gastrointestinal tract in the control or potentially pathogenic endogenous micro-organisms.
mesh_terms: D003106:Colon / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans
vernacular_title: Ecologie microbienne du côlon.