Dangerous liaisons – our expanding appreciation of microbial synergism

The ancient paradigm that one microbe causes one infection that has become entrenched within our fundamental understanding of microbiology since the time of Robert Koch is now being repeatedly challenged. For well over a decade now, this dogma has been contested with expansion in our conceptualisation of how microbes multiply in situ, often growing in biofilms rather than the planktonic cultures with which we make our laboratory predictions on how these organisms might respond to various therapeutic interventions. © 2012 The Authors Clinical Microbiology and Infection © 2012 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases