I think if we can determine how these bacteria mediate their immune effects, this may open the door to new therapeutic strategies for IBD and perhaps other disorders including allergic disease," Forsythe agreed. Indeed, at least one clinical study published in 2005 has already demonstrated a therapeutic effect of an individual microbe, O'Mahony said. Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome improved significantly when the patients received doses of live Bifidobacterium infantis cells for eight weeks, a change accompanied by normalization of the ratios of anti-inflammatory to proinflammatory cytokines.