The Germ Files: The Surprising Ways Microbes Can Improve Your Health and Life (and How to Protect Yourself from the Bad Ones)

SOME GERMS ARE OUT TO GET US. . . . But we shouldn’t let a delinquent, pathogenic minority taint our view of the other 99.9 per cent.

The microbes living on and inside us outnumber the cells in our bodies three to one. Many provide services on which our well-being, our moods, our very lives depend. They help to digest our food and operate the immune system. They trade information about potential mates when we kiss.  They alert the brain to problems in different locations around the body. The balance of their populations in our gut is a crucial factor in our physical and mental health. 

The effect of germs on our lives is not, however, a one-way street. We can help their efforts by the way we lead our lives.

The Germ Files is a one-stop source of the most up-to-date, life-changing information on our relationship with microbes, presented in concise and highly readable items grouped by theme. Areas covered include health, hygiene, sex, childcare, nutrition and dieting.

The Germ Files will answer your questions about everything from preventing flu to selecting probiotics, while constantly surprising you with revelations about the miraculous workings of the microscopic world.

JASON TETRO is a microbiologist who has spent the last 25 years learning about the effect germs have on our lives. In 2007, he ventured out of the lab and into the TV studio for a Q&A news segment on CTV Ottawa as "The Germ Guy." He has since broadcast and written for a wide range of media, including the Toronto Star, Scientific American, The Huffington Post, the CBC and his own blog. In 2011, he was awarded an honourary PhD in Social Media from Social Media University Global in recognition of his work to improve hand hygiene through social media using the hashtag #handhygiene, which has now been adopted by the World Health Organization.