. Henderson B, Wilson M, McNab R, et al, eds. (£29.95.) John Wiley and Sons, 1999. ISBN 0 471 98681 X.

Bacteria remain the dominant life form on this planet by virtue of their inherent adaptability and rapid evolutionary potential; this has allowed bacteria to colonise every ecological niche of the planet and multicellular eukaryotes are merely a specialised niche to be exploited. Within the human ecological niche arise specialised environments and aggressive defence systems to prevent overexploitation or disease, but ironically the healthy human body supports many more bacterial cells than host cells without an adverse outcome and with much benefit. This interplay …