"Normal flora" include Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, and anaerobes such as Bacteroides species, anaerobic gram-positive cocci, and Fusobacterium species.

“The well-authenticated detection of Haemophilus influenzae in an early medieval child promises that it will be detectable in more cases in history, and potentially prehistory,” he says.