Beyond personal space: Unveiling the transmission pattern of the human gut and oral microbiome.

Valles-Colomer et al. evaluated the rate of microbial strain sharing to infer person-to-person microbial transmission. The presence of shared strains does not necessarily indicate direct transmission between individuals. Future research should investigate the potential for noncommunicable diseases to be transmitted through microbial strain transmission. Identification of harmful strains with high transmissibility and transmission routes can enable the development of targeted interventions.