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[Michaelangelica]

Healthy humans are covered in bacteria, study says
Skin has about 1,000 species, research finds.

By Karen Kaplan
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Tuesday, June 02, 2009

This will make your skin crawl: A healthy human epidermis is colonised by about 1,000 species of bacteria.

Furthermore, the microorganisms have evolved to exploit the unique attributes of the body parts they call home, according to a study published in the journal Science.

Some thrive in the desert of the forearm; others are happiest in the tropical rain forest of the armpit.

The study, by a team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health, reflects a growing realization that bacteria have colonised us inside and out, and that their presence is not only harmless but also probably essential to the functioning of the body.

One example of that fact: Mice bred to be germ-free have smaller hearts and are unable to digest food properly.

"We live in a microbial world, and these things are not all out to get us," said Noah Fierer, a microbial ecologist at the University of Colorado. Fierer, who has analyzed bacteria that live on hands, wasn't involved with the new report.

The results of the study, reported last week, will lay some groundwork for a $115 million NIH venture dubbed the Human Microbiome Project, which is aimed at cataloging the bacteria and other organisms that inhabit the skin, gut, nose, mouth and vagina.

Healthy humans are covered in bacteria, study says

It dosn't make my skin crawl. I'd just like to know more about the "free loaders".

We know so little don't we?