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Women's Hands Tops in Bacteria: Study

By the Associated Press

Posted Nov 3, 2008 7:58 PM CST
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(AP) – Wash your hands, folks, especially you ladies. A new study found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. And everybody has more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find. "One thing that really is astonishing is the variability between individuals, and also between hands on the same individual," said University of Colorado biochemistry assistant professor Rob Knight, a co-author of the paper.

The researchers aren't sure why women harbored a greater variety of bacteria than men, but Fierer suggested it may have to so with the acidity of the skin, the AP reports. Knight said men generally have more acidic skin than women. Asked if guys should worry about holding hands with girls, Knight said: "I guess it depends on which girl."

Bacteria may lurk under women's skin, where handwashing has no effect, one expert says.
Bacteria may lurk under women's skin, where handwashing has no effect, one expert says.   (Shutterstock)
The sheer number of bacteria species detected on the hands of the study participants was a big surprise, and so was the greater diversity of bacteria we found on the hands of women, one expert said.
"The sheer number of bacteria species detected on the hands of the study participants was a big surprise, and so was the greater diversity of bacteria we found on the hands of women," one expert said.   (Shutterstock)
The average hand in a recent study was home to 150 species of bacteria.
The average hand in a recent study was home to 150 species of bacteria.   (Shutterstock)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
Toon
Nov 3, 2008 11:00 PM CST
Could the difference be in the wide variety of roles women play? It seems to me that both cooking and childcare might be sources of bacteria that women encounter more often than men do.

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