GOTTA HAND IT TO GALS

GOTTA HAND IT TO GALS

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP

November 4, 2008 --

WASHINGTON - Wash your hands, folks.

Especially you, ladies.

A study has found that women carry a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do - and that we all have more types of bacteria on our hands than expected.

"The sheer number of bacteria species detected on the hands of the study participants was a big surprise, as was the greater diversity of bacteria we found on the hands of women," said lead researcher Noah Fierer, an assistant professor at the University Colorado's department of ecology and evolutionary biology.

The researchers aren't sure why women hold a wider scope of bacteria than men. Fierer and study co-author Rob Knight, a Colorado biochemistry professor, think it may have to do with men generally having more acidic skin than women.

But they cited as other possibilities the difference in sweat- and oil-gland production, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics applications, skin thickness, and hormone production.

Women also may have more bacteria living under the skin's surface, where they're not accessible to washing, Knight added.

The researchers took samples from the palms of 51 college students and tested them with a new, highly detailed system for detecting bacteria DNA.

They identified 4,742 species of bacteria, only five of which were found on every hand, they reported on yesterday's online edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The average hand had 150 species of bacteria.

Asked whether guys should worry about holding hands with girls, Knight quipped, "I guess it depends on which girl."

But he noted that "the vast majority of the bacteria we have on our bodies are either harmless or beneficial."

And while the researchers stressed the importance of regular hand washing, they warned that soap and water alone don't eliminate bacteria.

"Either the bacterial colonies rapidly reestablish or washing does not remove the majority of bacteria found on the skin surface," they wrote.

[NYP]