For those of you who douse yourselves in antibacterial gel as often as possible, resistance to germs is futile. You will never be able to rid the human body of germs, and you wouldn’t want to, reveals the Human Microbiome Project.
Research uncovered that the human body is home to more than 10,000 species of microbes. In a healthy 200-pound adult, there is an estimated two to six pounds worth of germs, but only 5-10% of those are newly discovered microbes, Reuters reported.
The Human Microbiome Project, a $173 million research project funded by the National Institutes of Health, was the collaboration of more than 250 scientists for more than five years. Researchers analyzed 5,000 samples from the nasal passages, oral cavities, skin, gastrointestinal tracts, and urogenital tracts of 250 volunteers living near Houston or St. Louis to create the first gene map of microbes on the human body.
The new microbe map will enable scientists to study infections in a new, more holistic way, reports Reuters. Knowing where microbes exist on a healthy body will help scientists understand the microbial link to certain types of disease, and why microbes that live in everyone only adversely affect certain people.
Follow Elise Rambaud Marrion on Twitter @emarrion_cmn.
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