A Man’s Beard vs. Dog’s Fur – Bacteria Test 

A Man’s Beard vs. Dog’s Fur – Bacteria Test 

A recent study suggests that the average man’s beard contains more human-pathogenic bacteria than the dirtiest part of a dog’s fur.  Researchers analyzed saliva and skin samples from a handful of bearded men and various dogs at several European hospitals.  The researchers were trying to identify colonies of human-pathogenic bacteria in both man and dog.

It was discovered that the humans were by far the dirtiest of the two test patients.  Not only did the men’s beards contain significantly more potentially infectious microbes than the dogs’ fur, but the men also left the scanners more contaminated than the animals. The tests showed that all men showed high microbial counts on their skin and in their saliva, whereas only 75% of the test dogs did.

You are probably wondering how researchers went about testing the saliva and skin of our four-legged friends.  They swabbed each dog’s mouth for the bacteria samples, then took a simple fur sample by rubbing a special bacteria-collecting plate between each dog’s shoulder blades.  Let this test serve as proof that dogs are not always the ones carrying the most bacteria!