Once only the poppycock of age hippies and spiritual Guru , beards have had a meteorologic Renascence in the past decade . However , as tempting as that chocolate - shop - dwell lumbersexual look might be , you might want to put some background research into next grooming ( or lack of grooming ) habits .
cover in the journalEuropean Radiology , doctors at the Hirslanden Clinic in Switzerland compared the levels of human - pathogenic microorganisms in specimens taken from a small sampling of 18 bewhiskered guy cable and 30 dog-iron . In addition , they compared levels of bacterial contaminant of an MRI image scanner used by dogs and humans .
oddly enough , the aim of the enquiry was to discover whether an MRI scanner deal by dogs and humans could potentially threaten the health of patients .
To their surprise , the bearded men appear to be more of a wellness risk than the dogs . All 18 of the human showed eminent microbial counts , whereas only 23 of the 30 dogs had high microbial counts and seven had moderate microbic count . Worse still , seven out of 18 of the beards hold human being - morbific microorganisms , includingEnterococcus faecalisandStaphylococcus aureus , while just four out of 30 dogs harbored the pathogen .
“ On the basis of these findings , dogs can be regard as ' clean ' compared with bearded Isle of Man , ” the study concludes .
“ We showed that detent do not pose a important hygiene risk to humankind even if they utilize the same MRI scan facility . The beards of men harbor significantly more microbes than the neck fur of dogs and these microbes were significantly more pathogenic to man . ”
So , should we all be arm with a shaver and lean in fear from the human whiskers ? believably not , no . The domain is overflowing with around 1 trillion species of bacteria , which can be determine in middling much every corner and fissure on Earth , from the openings of cryptic - sea hydrothermal vents to theself - edict touchscreensatMcDonald ’s . The human body is no different . In fact , a huge proportion of our total dead body cell reckoning isnot human;many cell in our bodies are actually microbial colonists . Human peel alone is dwell by as many as 1,000 mintage of bacteria .
While the study did n’t go into the precise quantities of pathogenic bacteria , it ’s safe to assume that a human beard is not much bad thana grubby handafter a twain of hours of Clarence Day - to - day life . You are unconvincing to get sickish from a close encounter with a byssus .
The finding of this very modified study need to be lead with a pinch of salt , much like the often - touted statistic of your phone carryingseven times more life-threatening lurgiesthan a toilet seat . Granted , your phone is a secure haven for microbes , but most toilet seats arenot nearly as filthy as you might take .
That said , we probably wo n’t go around licking toilet seats , smartphones , dogs , or beards from now on .
