• Question: How hard is it finding bacteria on your skin and why?

    Asked by to Joe, Juan, Kate, Rory, Rosie on 13 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Rory Miles

      Rory Miles answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      It’s actually really easy to find bacteria on your skin. If you were to take a swab of your skin and grow it, it is likely that you will find many different types. Microbiologists do this on things called agar plates, these are like jelly and are made out of something found in seaweed. You could also look at these bacteria under a microscope to find out the bacteria that are living there. Different people can have different types of bacteria living on their skin. Bacteria first start to grow on your skin quite soon after you’re born. I’m not certain (and I’m not sure many scientists are) but they probably grow here as they have found food on the skin and can survive here. Bacteria like to find the best possible area that they can survive on the body. I’m sure that @Rosie could tell you more about this topic.

    • Photo: Rosie Coates

      Rosie Coates answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      Hi @maryislittlemix123,

      Rory’s right. Different bacteria tend to prefer to grow on certain bits of our body more than others… Some like a warm, moist, cosy armpit whereas others like the cool, dry, exposed surface of our arms. These bacteria grow in these different environments as they have adapted to living there- the bacteria on our arms for example might be good at surviving with very little water where those living under our arms might be good at surviving in our sweat which is toxic to lots of bacteria…

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