Microbiome: an old history of a new paradigm

The term ``microbiome'' is said to have been coined in 2001 by the American Nobel laureate-microbiologist Joshua Ledeberg (1925-2008). However, the history of microbiome began earlier, and founds its birth on the work of some ``giants of Medicine.'' Here, we report a brief history of the main stages that led to current knowledge and use of the microbiome.