A new study set out to determine if it is hygienic for dogs and people to share MRI machines stumbled across a surprising result: human beards harbor more germs than dogs.
MRI machines cost too much for most veterinary clinics, so this study was a preliminary investigation into the effects canines could have on human hospital patients . They took saliva and hair samples from 30 dogs, and beard samples from 18 hospital patients. While the study aimed to see if dogs hygiene would threaten the health of patients, their study found the opposite. The conclusion, in their own words:
“Our study shows that bearded men harbour significantly higher burden of microbes and more human-pathogenic strains than dogs. As the MRI scanner used for both dogs and humans was routinely cleaned after animal scanning, there was substantially lower bacterial load compared with scanners used exclusively for humans.”
So next time someone tells you your gross for kissing your dog, you can retort with this little factoid.
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