So what have YOU got living on you?

Pretty much an everyday life scenario
 (Courtesy - nutritionnibbles.blogspot.com)

Everytime we reach out and grab our coffee mug or (in my case) my PS3 controller, I unknowingly pick up over a hundred thousand little hitch-hikers in the process. These little fellas have the potential to protect you or, if things go sour, harm you. The scientists working at The Human Microbiome Project have been able to catalogue just exactly what lives with us in synergy.

(Courtesy - HMP)

Through the marvels of DNA sequencing and its many recent advances in a technological point of view, the scientists were able to map out what exactly we have crawling down our spine or being waved about our villi (little finger like projections inside our small intestine that aid in digestion and absorption). They've even managed to find out the crawlies living in your urethra... the tube from which you pee out of. (How they got samples from there, I'm not too sure.)

Sounds like a bit of fluff right? Are there really any benefits in finding out what lives on us? The answer is yes. Some studies have been performed that show the an increased immune system development thanks to the 10,000 odd varieties of bacteria a healthy human being carries. These bugs can also help fight off inflammation in some cases by producing anti-inflammatory molecules that work just like aspirin.

Everyone of us has a different make up of bugs on us. They carry the same genetic expression but they live in different sets of 'communities' ie, they can perform the same action as another type of bacteria. However, these bacteria can cause a wee bit of an upset if they manage to mutate as is the case of evolution. The one rogue fellow has the potential to cause life-threatening harm is also found on nearly 20% of humans as just part of the normal posse that inhabit your surfaces - Staphylococcus aureus. These guys do nothing at all really...unless they mutate inside your nasal passage, thereby creating a superbug that everyone in a hospital hates to hear about - MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

Staph aureus in all its cluster glory
(Courtesy -textbooksofbacteriology.net)

300 people took part in the program to map out the flora that flourish and gee golly wizz, they did indeed produce a great set of results that have shaped a path for further research into how these bugs help and harm us humans. Oh and the old adage prevails as always...the cleaner the person, the less amount of bacteria you carry. Go have a shower now.