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Bacteria on Hands
Name: Harlie A.
Status: Student
Age: 20s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: May 21 2002
Question:
What type of bacteria are found on hands (i.e. class of
bacteria)? Are they harmful?
Replies:
Well-there are millions of bacteria on your hands, also fungi and viruses.
They are of all different kinds. Your hands believe it or not have many
microecosystems on them. The environment under your fingernails is very
different from the environment on the surface of your palms is very different
from the one in your hair shafts. I cannot tell you of just one
kind. And by
the way, most of the bacteria, etc. is not harmful to you, in fact most of
them provide a barrier through which bad bacteria have a hard time breaking
through. So, even if you could wash them all off, you do not necessarily
want
to.
When you wash your hands, you are not killing all of them, just the ones
that have jumped on recently and are probably bad for you. So, keep washing
your hands, but do not expect that your hands are sterile.
vanhoeck
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Update: June 2012
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