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Translocation of microbes from the intestinal tract

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Medical Importance of the Normal Microflora

Abstract

As early as 1900, viable bacteria were cultured from the livers, spleens, and kidneys of various animals and humans (Ford, 1900, 1901). There was not much interest in this phenomenon, however, until Ellis and Dragstedt (1930) confirmed the report of Wolbach and Saiki (1909) that the livers of presumably healthy dogs contain viable anaerobes. Further studies in the 1950s suggested that these bacteria pass from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in dogs to the portal blood and liver (Chau, Goldbloom and Gurd, 1951; Schatten, 1954). Thus there were scattered early reports of the presence of bacteria of GI origin in extraintestinal sites, but no systematic investigations were undertaken.

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Berg, R.D. (1999). Translocation of microbes from the intestinal tract. In: Tannock, G.W. (eds) Medical Importance of the Normal Microflora. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3021-0_13

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