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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090528/ap_on_he_me/us_med_skin_germs

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – Thu May 28, 4:25 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Eeeww. There's a zoo full of critters living on your skin — a bacterial zoo, that is. Consider your underarm a rain forest. Healthy skin is home to a much wider variety of bacteria than scientists ever knew, says the first big census of our co-inhabitants. And that's not a bad thing, said genetics specialist Julia Segre of the National Institutes of Health, who led the research.

Sure they make your sneakers stinky, "but they also keep your skin moist and make sure if you get a wound that (dangerous) bacteria don't enter your bloodstream," she said. "We take a lot for granted in terms of how much they contribute to our health."

People's bodies are ecosystems, believed home to trillions of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that naturally coexist in the skin, the digestive tract and other spots. But scientists don't have a good grasp of which microbes live where, much less which are helpful, even indispensable, in maintaining health.

The NIH's "Human Microbiome Project" aims to change that, recruiting healthy volunteers to learn what microbes they harbor so scientists can compare the healthy with diseases of microbes gone awry — from acute infections to mysterious conditions like psoriasis or irritable bowel syndrome.

The skin research, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science, is part of that project. Scientists decoded the genes of 112,000 bacteria in samples taken from a mere 20 spots on the skin of 10 people. Those numbers translated into roughly 1,000 strains, or species, of bacteria, Segre said, hundreds more than ever have been found on skin largely because the project used newer genetic techniques to locate them.

Topography matters, a lot, the researchers reported. If a moist, hairy underarm is like a rain forest, the dry inside of the forearm is a desert. They harbor distinctly different bacteria suited to those distinctly different environments. In fact, the bacteria under two unrelated people's underarms are more similar than the bacteria that lives on one person's underarm and forearm.

Mom's advice to wash behind your ears notwithstanding, that spot contained the least diverse bacteria — 19 species on average. The most diverse spot: the forearm, which averaged 44 species.

How many are supposed to live there? That's not clear yet. Some certainly could be tourists, picked up as we go about our day. When researchers re-checked five of these volunteers a few months later, the bacteria in some spots — the moist nostril and groin, for example — proved pretty stable while other spots, including the forearm, had changed quite a bit.

Which are good bugs, and which bad? That depends. A common skin bacteria is Staph epidermidis, found all over the body. Segre said it helps protect us from its nasty cousin, Staph aureus, which about a third of people are thought to carry on the skin or in their nose even if they have no active infection.

But, back to topography, Staph epidermidis itself can harm if it gets under the skin; it's a common trigger of catheter-caused infections.

The research helps lay the groundwork for what doctors really want to know: What's different in the skin of people with diseases such as eczema or psoriasis? Those studies are about to begin, says Dr. Martin Blaser of New York University Langone Medical Center, who is leading one on psoriasis and performed some first-step studies of skin bacteria that helped lead to the NIH's census.

Then there's the scrubbing question, society's antibacterial obsession.

"There's an all-out assault on our normal skin organisms," Blaser noted. "In trying to get rid of the bad guys, are we getting rid of the good guys?"

Segre hopes knowing there are so many bacteria alters how people think about the relationship.

"I'm a mother of two small children; I believe very strongly in sanitation, washing your hands," Segre said. But, "we have to understand that we live in harmony with bacteria and they are part of us as super-organisms ... and not just conceive of bacteria as bad and germs and smelly."

 

[bggrthnjsus]

i figured it was already common knowledge that we are literally swimming in germs

 

[Zaptruder]

Eh. I wash my hands after pooping. Good enough.

 

[Vast Inspiration]

Eh. I wash my hands after pooping. Good enough.

But not after peeing?

 

[akachan ningen]

There are nematodes too.

 

[-COOLIO-]

i figured it was already common knowledge that we are literally swimming in germs

edit: ill just make it a thread

 

[ElectricBlue187]

But not after peeing?

just don't touch it and you're golden

 

[-COOLIO-]

just don't touch it and you're golden

if you touch it youre golden too

 

[NotWii]

i figured it was already common knowledge that we are literally swimming in germs

Ya

 

[Javaman]

if you touch it youre golden too

:lol

That's ace.

 

[Davidion]

Fuck anti-bacterial shit. wash your hands, take a shower every day or two, you're golden. The info in this article should be common knowledge.

This whole anti-germ nonsense only makes for weak-ass immune systems.

 

[nyong]

if you touch it youre golden too

EDIT: Nm, pee joke....

In any case, I wash after using the bathroom, which is good enough for me.

 

[Zaptruder]

But not after peeing?

I wash my hands with the dregs of my stream... been so warm and sterile and all that. Just make sure to wipe your hands real good.

 

[Escape Goat]

feels good man

 

[speedpop]

Fuck anti-bacterial shit. wash your hands, take a shower every day or two, you're golden. The info in this article should be common knowledge.

This whole anti-germ nonsense only makes for weak-ass immune systems.

Amen to that. I will gladly use some anti-bacterial gel if I am cleaning rubbish, but my partner takes it to the extreme. I've told her that she's doing more harm to her own health by continually using the shit everywhere and it's probably the main reason why her immunity system is a joke.

 

[godhandiscen]

lol I am a freak when it comes to this. I have to take at least 3 showers a day or else I start going crazy.

 

[esbern]

by scientists do they mean "5th graders in science class"?

 

[Ether_Snake]

Take a shower every day or two?

I take two a day, otherwise I feel like crap, and it has nothing to do with bacterias.

 

[TheHeretic]

feels good man

 

[Sibylus]

"There's an all-out assault on our normal skin organisms," Blaser noted. "In trying to get rid of the bad guys, are we getting rid of the good guys?"

Pretty much why I haven't used antibacterial soap in years, it's garbage.

 

[Neverfade]

Reminds me of my favorite Carlin bit:

"I want you to know, I don't automatically wash my hands everytime I go to the bathroom, ok? .... Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. You know when I wash my hands? When I shit on them! And that's the only time. And you know how often that happens? Tops....TOPS: 2...3 times a week! TOPS!"

 

[Tornado Condor]

lol I am a freak when it comes to this. I have to take at least 3 showers a day or else I start going crazy.

wtf. 3 showers a day?

 

[Patrick Bateman]

lol I am a freak when it comes to this. I have to take at least 3 showers a day or else I start going crazy.

You know that too much showering actually harms your skin and destroys the acid mantle of your skin thus making it easier for germs to infiltrate in your body and make you sick?

 

[replicashooter]

i figured it was already common knowledge that we are literally swimming in germs

Spoiler

Freemasons run the country

 

[Monocle]

i figured it was already common knowledge that we are literally swimming in germs

Same here. This article doesn't really seem like news to me. Probably because I'm not aware of scientists' old estimates of the number of bacteria hitching a ride on the average human.

 

[rSpooky]

Well actually these colonies keep the real pathogens out of our system. And no you cant really kill m all by taking a shower they are to deep in our skin for that.
I hear about this research on NPR yesterday .. good stuff. Doesn't really make me worried or queezy, Just hope people understand the difference between the harmless ones and the pathogens.

The researcher in the interview said she didn't understand how this society can so easily accept putting bacteria inside your bodie ( yoghurt with bacteria) and in the same time freaks out on everything outside of our body.

 

[HiroProtagonist]

by scientists do they mean "5th graders in science class"?

Seriously. Next, on Yahoo! "News": Water - "Scientist" discover two hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to a single oxygen atom.

Oh, and the guy who showers 3x a day:

"In fact, the number of bacteria that normally inhabit the human body (about 700 trillion cells) exceeds the number of its own human cells (about 70 trillion)." (Biology: Fifth Edition, Solomon, Berg, & Martin, Harcourt College Publishing, 1999, p497)

Good luck with that.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

You guys act like retards or even normal people could have told me that the forearm has more diversity in bacteria than all other spots, like the taint, skin around your mouth or nose or your finger tips. Given that other places have more moisture or a better supply of bacteria, I don't know why that is.

 

[Hitokage]

The news here is the census of the bacteria living on us, not the discovery of their existence.

Doesn't really make me worried or queezy, Just hope people understand the difference between the harmless ones and the pathogens.

Yup, the overwhelming majority of bacteria in and around us is simply there, not helping, not hurting.

 

[HiroProtagonist]

You guys act like retards or even normal people could have told me that the forearm has more diversity in bacteria than all other spots, like the taint, skin around your mouth or nose or your finger tips. Given that other places have more moisture or a better supply of bacteria, I don't know why that is.

I think it’s pretty sensible to assume that your hands, and by extension your forearms, are going to have a more diverse range of bacteria, you know, seeing that they are how we interact with all other regions of our bodies. Your forearms are the continuation of your hands that don’t get washed as often or as well. When you wipe your ass you probably get some assortment of ass/taint critters on your extremities, you wash your hands but not forearms, probably leaving some poo particles. You sneeze, covering your face; you wash your hands – not your forearms… and suddenly you have a bacteria smorgasbord. *licks forearm*

 

[-viper-]

I think it’s pretty sensible to assume that your hands, and by extension your forearms, are going to have a more diverse range of bacteria, you know, seeing that they are how we interact with all other regions of our bodies. Your forearms are the continuation of your hands that don’t get washed as often or as well. When you wipe your ass you probably get some assortment of ass/taint critters on your extremities, you wash your hands but not forearms, probably leaving some poo particles. You sneeze, covering your face; you wash your hands – not your forearms… and suddenly you have a bacteria smorgasbord. *licks forearm*

Well that doesn't apply to me because I always shower after I wipe my ass. But how the fuck can you get shit on your forearms? Makes no sense at all. Unless you dig your fist in ur ass, thats not gonna happen. It should be all in the tissues.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

I don't wipe my hands off after I jerkoff. I go straight for the fish tacos.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

I think it’s pretty sensible to assume that your hands, and by extension your forearms, are going to have a more diverse range of bacteria, you know, seeing that they are how we interact with all other regions of our bodies. Your forearms are the continuation of your hands that don’t get washed as often or as well. When you wipe your ass you probably get some assortment of ass/taint critters on your extremities, you wash your hands but not forearms, probably leaving some poo particles. You sneeze, covering your face; you wash your hands – not your forearms… and suddenly you have a bacteria smorgasbord. *licks forearm*

I was mostly saying that it's news to me that the forearms and not the hands have more diversity after the multiple posts that said, 'Dur, we all knew that.'