What Microbes Live On The Hands

2023 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-07-30 16:55

"Don't put your hands in your mouth!" - perhaps this phrase could compete for one of the first places in the top 10 phrases spoken by mothers around the world. Mothers know from practical experience that dirty hands that have been in the mouth can cause many diseases, from dysentery to stomatitis. Recent studies conducted by scientists from one of the Japanese universities found that microbes on the hands do not just have a place to be, but there are a huge number of them - from 100 to 200 species.

Moreover, the number of microbes depends not so much on the level of human hygiene (although students were examined, for sure if homeless people were examined, the numbers would be an order of magnitude higher), but on … gender. Yes, yes, who would have thought, there are twice as many microbes on the hands of women than on the hands of men. And even if you are a very neat person, and you wash your hands five times a day, have a vacuum cleaner for the keyboard and a special brush for nails, you still have germs on your hands, moreover, this is completely normal.

It is very difficult to get rid of microbes completely, it is almost impossible to do it for a long time, and the attempts themselves can have very unfavorable consequences. The healthy skin of a healthy person is in itself an obstacle to the penetration of microbes inside. It also has special cells-detectors that determine the degree of danger of the "creature" in the hands, and transmit this information to the "center". If the microbe is dangerous, the skin reacts with a whole complex of actions, as a result, unbearable living conditions are created for the pests. The vast majority of microbes on the hands are not pathogenic, but they allow this mechanism to be kept active.

What happens when a person constantly uses antibacterial soap to get rid of germs on their hands? First, his immune system is not trained. It weakens, and begins to fail after failure, which manifests itself in allergic reactions. It is this mechanism that underlies the proven fact: children in families where they are fanatical about cleanliness suffer from allergies ten times more often than where the rules of hygiene are simply observed.

100 to 200 species of microbes live on hands

Secondly, the constant use of antibacterial agents dries out the skin of the hands and deprives it of the lipid film, one of the main mechanisms of skin defense. The result is the opposite of what was expected: the skin becomes vulnerable, microcracks form on it, through which microbes, which are found in abundance everywhere, even in the air, freely penetrate. In conditions of reduced immunity, even conditionally pathogenic, that is, harmless to a healthy person, can cause serious inflammation.

With regard to microbes on your hands, you should be guided by the rule of the golden mean, but simply common sense. Compliance with hygiene rules is necessary, but nothing more.

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