section_path: Interactions with other organisms/Commensals
section_name: Commensals
paragraph_text: Commensals
  
  The word " commensalism " is derived from the word "commensal", meaning "eating at the same table" and all plants and animals are colonised by commensal bacteria. In humans and other animals, millions of them live on the skin, the airways, the gut and other orifices. Referred to as "normal flora", or "commensals", these bacteria usually cause no harm but may occasionally invade other sites of the body and cause infection. Escherichia coli is a commensal in the human gut but can cause urinary tract infections. Similarly, streptococci, which are part of the normal flora of the human mouth, can cause heart disease.