Gut check: converging evidence links microbiome to malaria risk.

Beyond genetics and immunity, the gut microbiome may be an underappreciated determinant of malaria parasite burden. Gustin et al. demonstrated that pre-infection microbiome composition predicts the level of Plasmodium parasitemia in both rhesus macaques and human volunteers, with convergent evidence pointing to Bifidobacterium as a potentially protective genus.