Germs are Not Always Bad for Us

When we keep cleaning ourselves in a bid to keep germs at bay, we may actually hamper the natural ability of the skin to heal itself.

A research team from University of California, San Diego, have discovered that bacteria living on the skin surface prevent excessive inflammation after injury.

Teens Neglect Hygiene While Cooking
Teenagers are more likely to cross-contaminate raw foods when preparing frozen foods, a study has found.

"These germs are actually good for us," Dr Richard L. Gallo, professor of medicine and pediatrics, chief of UCSD's Division of Dermatology and the Dermatology section of the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.

According to the researchers, lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents and microorganisms increases an individual's susceptibility to disease by changing how the immune system reacts to such "bacterial invaders."

The hypothesis was first developed to explain why allergies like hay fever and eczema were less common in children from large families, who were presumably exposed to more infectious agents than others.

Hand Hygiene Of Doctors Open To Question
Doctors could well be lagging behind nurses in maintaining their hand hygiene, Australian research shows.

The team suggests that skin's normal microflora, usually harmless bacteria that live on the skin, includes certain staphylococcal bacterial species that will induce an inflammatory response when they are introduced below the skin's surface, but do not initiate inflammation when present on the epidermis, or outer layer of skin.

During the study, research team led by Yu Ping Lai, Gallo have found a previously unknown mechanism by which a product of staphylococci inhibits skin inflammation.

Basic Hygiene can Help Keep Viruses at Bay
Simple, low-cost measures such as hand-washing, wearing masks and quarantining infected patients provide a good shield against the spread of flu and other respiratory viruses, a study

The inhibition is stimulated by a molecule called staphylococcal lipoteichoic acid (LTA), which acts on keratinocytes - the primary cell types found on the epidermis.

The study is published online in Nature Medicine.

Good Hand Hygiene Helps Prevent School Absences
The number one thing students and teachers can do to avoid getting sick is to adopt good hand hygiene.

Source-ANI
SAV