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Scientific discoveries in biology, genomics, and medicine, made over the past century, have revealed the complexity of the microbial universe and their symbiotic necessity for human survival, as proven by all recent work on the intestinal microbiota. Sometimes considered a "second brain", this set of microorganisms is specific to each individual but certain dominant species are common to all to ensure essential barrier functions, as well as metabolic and immune functions. On the therapeutic level, treatments based on the microbiota - including the use of bacteriophages and probiotics - are beginning to be evaluated for different pathologies. Fecal transplantation for recurrent Clostridium difficile infections is a precursor model. The deepening of knowledge about our symbiotic relationship with the intestinal microbiota as well as the precariousness of antibiotics as a "common good" imply a new "eco-bacterial" paradigm, which only joint wills - scientific, medical, political and citizen - will make possible. Jérôme Larché is an internist and medical resuscitation specialist from Montpellier, very involved in the problem of antibiotic-resistant infections and the solutions to be found both professionally and in his community as President of the PHAGESPOIRS association.