Sintchenko V, Coiera E. The case for including microbial sequences in the electronic health record. Nat Med 29, 22–25 (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-02157-8

Integrating microbial sequencing data into electronic health records, while presenting privacy concerns, will improve patient care and population health and will expand the secondary uses of such data. The growing availability of microbial genomes sequenced for health care rather than research raises the question of whether such data should be included in an individual’s electronic