Family members, even friends and neighbors, share many common germs

Germs are…a family affair. People who live together not only share the same roof but also many germs, reveals a new international scientific study, the most comprehensive of its kind to date. This applies mainly to members of the same family and roommates, but also to friends and neighbors, as long as there is frequent social contact with them.

The longer the symbiosis, cohabitation and cohabitation, the more common the microbiome of people. People who live together, regardless of their relationship, tend to harbor more of the same microbes in their bodies. Couples have greater microbial similarities (presumably due to greater physical proximity) than children and parents do to each other.

The similarity within the same household is more about the microbes of the mouth than those of the gut. 32% of oral bacteria strains – that’s one in three – were found to be shared among members of a household, compared to 12% of gut bacteria. Oral bacteria spread more easily because they often survive in the air for a long time.

The researchers, led by microbiologist Nicola Segata of Italy’s University of Trento, who made the relevant publication in the journal Nature, examined the results of 31 previous studies that had analyzed genetic material (DNA) from nearly 10,000 saliva and stool samples from people from 20 countries (Europe, North America, Argentina, China, Africa etc.).

The new research correlated the microbial “profile” in each person’s mouth and gut with those of other family members, partners, roommates, friends, etc.

The study confirms the close association of the microbiome of the mother and her children, especially in childhood. During the first year of an infant’s life, about half of its microbiome is shared with the mother’s. The percentage of shared microbes decreases as the child gets older, yet people 50 to 85 years old still have quite a few microbes in common with their mother, especially in the gut.

After the age of four, children share a similar percentage of common microbes with their father as they do with their mother. Germ sharing is more “visible” in villages, where people from different households in the same village have more germs in common with each other than with people from other villages.

RES-EMP

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