Appendix may be safe haven for good bacteria

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Tech%2B%2526%2BScience/STIStory_169696.html --- NEW YORK - CONTRARY to conventional wisdom, the appendix may not be useless after all. New research suggests that the structure helps beneficial bacteria survive and repopulate the colon after these organisms become depleted as a result of an infection or drug treatment. Beneficial bacterial, also referred to as commensal bacteria, help maintain a proper balance in the intestine and may also kill dangerous microbes. For example, this is why patients frequently develop gastrointestinal problems during or after a course of antibiotics. Along with the pathogen causing the infection, the antibiotic may destroy commensal bacteria as well. This report 'proposes a novel and unique function for the human appendix, for which the appendix is well suited', said senior author Dr William Parker, from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. 'Importantly, the proposal explains clearly why the function is not evident in our industrialised culture.'