Belly button home to bacterial zoo: home to at least 60 species of bacteria, fungi and yeasts,

[snagglepuss]

according to new research.

A fascinating study but don't be rushing off to the shower.


snip

The findings, to be presented at the Ecological Society of America's 96th Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, demonstrate how a belly button can become a haven for complex biodiversity.

"Although we find about 60 or 70 species on the average person, we have found more than 1400 species overall, such that differences among individuals are great," says Assistant Professor Rob Dunn of North Carolina State University.

snip

While many people might now be more mindful of belly button washing, Dunn says such organisms that are also found on our forearms, hands and really the entire surface of the body, serve an important function.

"They are a kind of first line defence against pathogens that land on us, a kind of living army on our skin that when it meets a newly arriving pathogen has, as a first response, to try to compete," says Dunn. "A human who successfully scrubbed all of the microbes off of his or her body would be at incredibly high risk of a deadly skin infection."



Read more at

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/08/02/3283433.htm

[PoliticAverse]

1. ...

http://winejuice.blogspot.com/2007/08/diy-grow-plant-in-your-belly-button.html

[progressoid]

14. Ha!

Just like the gutters on my roof!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. EW! I'm off to get my Q-tips and antiseptic and off to the shower I go! nt

[snagglepuss]

6. Not so fast. The scientists say these critters are the body's first line of defense.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

11. Yes, but EW!!! :)

I suppose I'll leave them in there.

[jeff47]

13. And in further "ew":

There are more bacteria cells inside and on you than human cells.

Kinda begs the question who's the host and who's the parasite/symbiote

[FirstLight]

3. heehee

i shared this with my kids...they said "ewww...COOL!" :rofl:

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Talk about navel-gazing!

Sort of related to this topic...

A few years back, I started developing warts on my hands, which had never been a problem in the past. It occurred to me that it began about the time I started using antibacterial hand soap most of the time, theorizing that I was killing beneficial bacteria that helped keep the wart-causing viruses at bay. Sure enough, when I stopped using the antibacterial hand soap, the warts vanished over time and have never recurred.

I've searched some on the internet for an association between the use of antibacterial hand soap and increase in warts, but didn't find anything. If anyone else knows of any studies in this area, I'd like to know about it.

[snagglepuss]

7. That's interesting. I wonder if there is a connection, nt

[jeff47]

12. Soap is antibacterial, whether or not it contains an antibiotic.

"Antibacterial soap" is primarily a marketing gimmick.

That's not to say there aren't more and less effective soaps, but the soap itself kills bacteria.

[El Supremo]

5. Not if you're an outie! n/m

[Cirque du So-What]

8. Even if you're an outie

there are likely some crevices at the navel-belly interface.

[kestrel91316]

9. I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Bacteria ARE our friends.

There are RARE exceptions, but most of them serve us well.

[libguy_6731]

10. very true

[DirkGently]

15. This article needs pictures of the microbes in question. Much more fun.

[formercia]

16. My Microbes have a Lint Sleeping Bag.

It's no wonder they won't leave.

[azul]

17. Some real material for contemplation here.

One can never really be severed from Mother Earth.

[semillama]

18. "You'll never walk alone..." n/t

[demguy72340]

19. nasty stuff