Couples end up sharing the same bacteria

YOU and your spouse might share more than a life together; your skin bacteria might even be the same.

While it’s often said that couples start to look alike over time, new research suggests their skin bacteria may do the same.

A study of 20 couples who were living together, found that partners showed similarities in their skin’s “microbiome”.

In the new study, published recently in the journal mSystems, the Canadian researchers analysed skin swabs that each participant collected from 17 different sites on the body.

These similarities were strong enough that a computer algorithm could identify couples 86% of the time, based on their skin microbiome alone. Some microscopic organisms called bacteria can cause diseases in humans. When this occurs, it is called a bacterial infection.

There are thousands of different types of bacteria all over the world. Only a few types of bacteria cause disease in humans.

“Microbiome” refers to the trillions of bacteria and other microbes that inhabit the human body, inside and out. The skin is covered in a variety of microbes.

Most of these can be either harmless or beneficial. Researchers are only beginning to understand how the skin microbiome affects health, according to study senior researcher Josh Neufeld, a professor of biology at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

The bacteria on your and your spouse’s skins may be nearly identical.

But the “microbial community” there does interact with the immune system, and it might have a bigger health impact than traditionally believed, explained Neufeld. So, he said, it’s important to understand what factors affect the makeup of any one person’s microbiome.

The new findings point to the importance of the home. Although the study focused on couples, Neufeld explained, it seemed that contact with the same home surfaces — rather than contact with each other — was key. Couples showed the greatest microbial similarities on their feet, which makes sense, Neufeld said. “You shower and walk around barefoot in the bathroom, spreading your microbes around,” he said.

But Neufeld was also quick to point out that none of this is “gross”. Diversity in a person’s microbiome — whether in the gut or on the skin — is healthy, he said: Good bacteria keep the bad guys in check. A lack of diversity in the gut’s microbial community has been linked to increased risks of certain conditions related to metabolism and immune function — including obesity, type 1 diabetes and asthma.

There has been less research into the skin’s microbiome, said Dr Adam Friedman, an associate professor of dermatology at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. But there’s evidence that a lack of diversity in skin microbes might contribute to eczema, acne and rosacea, said Friedman. “This [study] highlights the importance of the external environment on our skin’s microbial community.” — AFP