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Lovers Share Colonies of Skin Microbes, Study Finds (metro.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the microbial-communities dept.

Aneri Pattani reports via The New York Times (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternate source): Couples who live together share a lot of things: beds, bathrooms, food, toiletries. But one thing they might not expect to share? Skin bacteria. In a study published Thursday in mSystems, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, researchers studied the skin microbiomes of 10 sexually active, heterosexual couples living together. A microbiome is a mini-ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microorganisms living on and in the body. Each square centimeter of skin hosts between one million and one billion microorganisms, according to the study. After analyzing 330 skin swabs collected from 17 parts of the body on each participant, the researchers found that each person significantly influenced the microbial communities on a lover's skin. In fact, computer algorithms relying on microbial data were able to accurately match couples with up to 86 percent accuracy.

48 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. This is Slashdot by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 2

    If you want to avoid another person's microbes, don't touch their keyboard or mouse.

    1. Re:This is Slashdot by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

      The cleaning lady asked to use my computer and now she's pregnant.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:This is Slashdot by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The cleaning lady asked to use my computer and now she's pregnant.

      Ahnold, is that you?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:This is Slashdot by blindseer · · Score: 1

      Then she's terrible at cleaning, it would seem. Also, you might want to get yourself checked for STDs, this transfer of "material" goes both ways.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  2. Affairs by techdolphin · · Score: 1

    I can just see it now if one spouse is accused of cheating. "We want to get a skin swab to check the microbiome." I wonder if the microbiomes of all three people would become similar.

    1. Re:Affairs by Razed+By+TV · · Score: 1

      Would be interesting if they all worked for the same employer, and at least one of them was a microbiologist and surreptitiously got samples from the suspected third party.

  3. I would be surprised... by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...if this *weren't* the case.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    1. Re:I would be surprised... by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Yes, but this is about getting a quantity instead of the trend that's been known for years. It's even a major plot point in a novel I've been reading that came out in 2012.

    2. Re:I would be surprised... by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Agreed. With regular contact, you'd expect this sort of thing, particularly if they're also sharing a bed for sleeping in addition to coupling.

    3. Re:I would be surprised... by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      Anyone with a modicum of intelligence would simply understand this. A waste of money.

      Hint to researchers: You'll share your follicle mites as well. Jeez.

    4. Re:I would be surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Do you know what going only by "common sense" gets you? Aristotle's theory of Impetus instead of Newtonian momentum. It is important to actually check your theories. Otherwise even smart people can go completely wrong if they refuse to calibrate their theories to reality.

      Captcha: informed

    5. Re:I would be surprised... by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      Dude for the simple minded. Understanding the biome that infects us all, it's impact, postive and negative, is essential to future health, as is how it spreads and changes and when it becomes a threat and even weirder when you should actually have a more healthy one that suits your genetics, actually smeared all over you. There is the variety, what it constitutes, why it is unhealthy or just as importantly healthy, what trace elements are produced that are worthwhile, what worthwhile functions are exhibited including elimination of unhealthy microbes. In fact a whole school of study and understanding to achieve better human health, you could of course incorporate it with internal ones, especially in the digestive tract but I suppose you would just consider that shite :| (ignorance is strength https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    6. Re:I would be surprised... by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      You have a depressing lack of curiosity about the world. I'm glad there are people who are curious and learning how things work!

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    7. Re:I would be surprised... by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      Indeed.

      The question in TFS seems ... just ... incredible :

      But one thing they might not expect to share? Skin bacteria.

      I can't see how someone with even the slightest knowledge of anatomy and animal behaviour (includes hoomins) could actually write such garbage with a straight face. Contact transfers material - first rule of forensics (so basic, it might even get mentioned in the intro of one of those dozens of American forensics cop shows, though the actual principal goes back to a mid-19th Century Frenchman. IIRC).

      I'd be astonished if two people living in close proximity, even if they don't swap (bacteria-laden) bodily fluids, didn't transfer significant amounts of bacteria between each other. How well those transferred colonies are able to establish in the teeth of already-established microbiomes is slightly more interesting, but that they do it is utterly un-surprising.

      Is it common for people to believe that a shower is sufficient to remove bacteria from the skin? More than a few percent of the skin bacteria. And the skin fungi. And the skin insects, crustaceans and microscopic animals (with all the bacteria in their guts).

      Don't children do school experiments in culturing microbes off their skin any more?

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  4. How fast? by John.Banister · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder how fast this happens. Could some sort of "infidelity testing service" spring up out of this research?

    1. Re:How fast? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      iBiome has detected a 43% change in your wifes skin biome.

      would you like to see a list of divorce lawyers in your area?

    2. Re:How fast? by fiver-hoo · · Score: 2

      No need for a service. Just use your nose. Black people even wrote a song about it called "Smell Yo' Dick". Google it.

      But there is a pretty easy way around it I've been employing for years each time after I have sex with a prostitute. All you have to to is get a dirty pair of your wife's underwear out of the laundry, or snag a tampon out of the bathroom trash.

      After you have sex with the prostitute and get back home, moderately moisten your chosen item with a spray bottle of lukewarm water and just little bit of sugar. Let that sit for a few minutes while you scrub your dick, balls, asshole and rest of groin area with betadine then take a nice hot shower.

      When you get out of the shower, take your prepared wife's tampon/underwear and rub it around nice and good over the area you just sanitized. For good measure I then usually lay on the bed and relax for awhile with it wrapped around my dick while reading a book or watching some TV. Lay a small blanket over the area as well to hold in body heat and help the colony replenish itself. Don't get fancy and try to use a heating pad or something, going far above body temperature will cause you to regrow the hive with a much higher balance of heat loving friendlies and you won't smell right again until some time has passed for it to rebalance itself. Not something you want for a variety of reasons.

      And that's it. Presto chango it's like you never pounded that whore in the ass an hour ago. Bulletproof.

    3. Re:How fast? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Admit it, you just like to fuck tampons

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:How fast? by fraxinus-tree · · Score: 1

      It used to be here for ages. It is called STDs. Well, it doesn't cover all of the microbiome, but still works.

  5. Only 86%? by Waccoon · · Score: 1

    I'm surprised it's so low.

    1. Re:Only 86%? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      most of society will share the same major organisms. And places like schools, and malls, will lend to less alpha-diversity.
      There are also only so many particular substances that are benign enough to not trigger an immune reaction (from body, or other microroganisms), and correspondingly equilavent statis levels.

      I would wager that there is lower per-person diversity, vs diversity within the colonies (lowering alpha-, increasing beta- diversity).
      And that it's very region specific (social networks, and general closeness of contact, amount of food handling from public places, travel on public transports, etc)

    2. Re:Only 86%? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      There are lots of cheaters? Some people spend more time at work than home?

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
  6. Might not expect? by Gaygirlie · · Score: 1

    Couples who live together share a lot of things: beds, bathrooms, food, toiletries. But one thing they might not expect to share? Skin bacteria.

    Says who? Why wouldn't they expect that? Everyone knows you already share all sorts of bacteria and viruses and whatnot with whoever you live with, so you tend to get sick at the same time and you tend to be resistant to the same sicknesses and all that -- it's fucking common sense.

  7. Re:Well, that's just great by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    No more Cleveland Steamers on my chest.

    The Cleveland Steamers are my favorite minor league baseball team.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  8. The marital contract has... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Germs of endearment.

  9. How about that by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    cooties are real

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:How about that by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      cooties are real

      Yes - but they're totally worth it!

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re: How about that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Gotta catch em all!

  10. Well duh. by softnewsit · · Score: 1

    Well duh. They touch eachother

    --
    Go away!
  11. Soon to be cited by campuscodi · · Score: 1

    Research soon to be cited in various divorce cases :)

  12. Re:How does this apply to nerds? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    Mom...

    --
    Learn to love Alaska
  13. Any other effects? by kubajz · · Score: 2

    It is known that gut microbes have a lot of influence on physiology including mood. I wonder if these skin microbes also influence some things in their host in some way... could help explain why long-term couples are alike in a number of things that are not necessarily habits.

  14. They needed a study to figure this out? by fiver-hoo · · Score: 1

    Every woman I've ever lived with my dick starts to smell like her pussy and vice versa after a few months. I just assumed this was common fucking knowledge? Can I please get some of this grant money they are wasting on this idiotic crap?

  15. Help me confirm some research? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    Finally, a pickup line for the upcoming dermatologist convention!

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    1. Re:Help me confirm some research? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      I feel the researchers only scratched the surface here. I was hoping to delve deeper.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    2. Re:Help me confirm some research? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      There are multiple avenues I'd like to explore.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    3. Re:Help me confirm some research? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      I could go on all night.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  16. Re:Hey baby by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    Sorry pal, she is not into micro probes.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  17. Re:How fast?; how romantic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't understand some peoples hobbies, comics, trainspotting and now this.

  18. Share microbes - by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    And your Valtrex prescription, too!

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  19. Re:How does this apply to nerds? by arth1 · · Score: 1

    3 living-together with their significant others (all heterosexual, and only 4 of them overweight, for that matter)

    Nerds, where 4 out of 3 are overweight!

    Of course male nerds get married. The biological imperative and all, with women who will, consciously or unconsciously, look for a partner that is stable and can provide for her children. Female nerds may have a somewhat harder time.

  20. Not news to me by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Honestly, I had a girlfriend I was "allergic" to. I had an itch between my fingers I couldn't get rid of it. We found later without a doubt it was her.

    1. Re:Not news to me by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      besides perfumes, soaps and lotions there are many foods that cause various substances to be in skin oils and other secretions. It is much more likely you were allergic to something like that

    2. Re:Not news to me by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      besides perfumes, soaps and lotions there are many foods that cause various substances to be in skin oils and other secretions. It is much more likely you were allergic to something like that

      Can't answer just something she wore, secreted, or carried (Dem dere microbes) the entire time we were together.

    3. Re:Not news to me by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      besides perfumes, soaps and lotions there are many foods that cause various substances to be in skin oils and other secretions. It is much more likely you were allergic to something like that

      Can't answer just something she wore, secreted, or carried (Dem dere microbes) the entire time we were together.

      I was "allergic" to her.

      See how much shorter that was.

    4. Re:Not news to me by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      and factually false in all likelihood

  21. Re:How does this apply to nerds? by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

    The biological imperative and all, with women who will, consciously or unconsciously, look for a partner that is stable and can provide for her children.

    Also, unconsciously, they will look for a wild and exciting unreliable partner, because she wants his genes for her sons and grandsons.

  22. other microorganisms? by thoughtlover · · Score: 1

    "A microbiome is a mini-ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microorganisms living on and..."

    'other microorganisms' ?? How many other types of microorganisms are there..?

    --
    No sig for you! Come back one year!