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The Conversation USA

The womb isn't sterile – healthy babies are born with bacteria and fungi in their guts

  • Written by Kent Willis, Assistant Professor of Neonatology, University of Tennessee
New research suggests that a newborn is exposed to bacteria and fungi in the womb.stockce/Shutterstock

For the last hundred years, scientists have believed that humans develop in a womb that remains sterile and completely isolated from the collection of bacteria, fungi and viruses that make us sick when we emerge into the outside world.

This theory...

Read more: The womb isn't sterile – healthy babies are born with bacteria and fungi in their guts

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