Microbes inhabit the human placenta, but it’s not a bad thing

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The human placenta, the organ that nourishes a developing baby, is not the pristine place some experts had assumed. Researchers said on Wednesday they have identified a relatively small but thriving group of microbes that inhabit the placenta alongside human cells in a finding that may point to new ways of spotting women at risk for pre-term births. There were clear differences in the makeup of placental microbes, or microbiome, in women who had premature babies compared with those who delivered full-term babies, said Dr. James Versalovic, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine and head of pathology at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. "This is a eureka moment where we say: 'Wow, there are bacteria here in the placenta,'" said Versalovic, who noted that the view among many experts had been that the placenta might be sterile, free of such microbes.