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a patient's microbiome the collection of all the microbes present in and on the patient (see, for example, Friedrich MJ, JAMA 300 (7): 777-8 (2008)—can reveal a patient's current disease state as well as help a caregiver to predict their future risk of disease, infection, or clinical complications.

the microbiome is extremely complex, as evidenced by the microbial diversity that can be observed in even a single microenviroment of the human body. See, eg, Hyman et al., PNAS 102 (22): 7952-7 (2005)(studying the microbial diversity on the human vaginal epithelium).