Each person has 'cloud' of particular microbes, says research

Right now, you are surrounded by a "cloud" single, made up of thousands of bacteria, their own bacteria, according to a study by scientists at the University of Oregon in the United States.

Upon entering the cloud of another person, you are hit by a "rain" of bacteria on your skin and will breathe them, until they reach their lungs.
This description is a study, published in the scientific publication PeerJ, which examined 11 people and concluded that it is possible to identify them by microbes.

Other research has had shown the extent of our microbiome - a set of bacteria, viruses and fungi in the body.

This group can be transmitted through direct contact, by air or by dead cells present in the dust.


You can take a step back, please?

The subjects remained in a closed chamber for four hours, where the air was bombarded into through a filter to prevent contamination.


Since the filters inside the room were collecting samples from the "cloud" of people. And scientists then analyzed the bacteria collected.


"We believe that we will be able to detect the human microbiome in the air around a person, but we were surprised to find that we could identify most of the people in the group only by microbes Cloud samples," said one of the researchers, Dr. James Meadow .




The microbiologist Ben Neuman, University of Reading, told the BBC: "You can feel the CECE ('smell' body) of a person and still know that all those things are crawling on you - how wonderful!"

According to him, this "disgusting discovery" makes sense, since there is a growing realization of the microbiome, and shows that we change the bacteria, "we are changing each other."

To Neuman, it would be useful to know which bacteria can "fly" through the air. But he makes it clear that there is to worry about.

An extra shower?

The microbiologist argues that it is not the case of taking more showers a day.
"I would not help. We just need to get over it and move on."


In the cloud, there are groups of bacteria such as Streptococcus, which are common in rings, and others that are encountered in skin, such as Propionibacterium and Corynebacterium.

The researchers say that this combination may have a "forensic application" to detect if someone has experienced a certain location.
However, it remains unclear how the microbiome of each can change over time.

Adam Altrichter, one of the researchers of the project told the BBC: "We need to understand that we are not aseptic beings and this is something completely natural and healthy."


He said the size of the cloud has not yet been measured, but it is estimated that it extends by 30 cm.