Studies show that the body is composed of several microorganisms which are actually more numerous than the human's cells. Lately, scientists were curious on how can these microbes affect humans. With a recent finding, it was found out that a person's microbes can actually be utilized for skin care.
According to an article in The Atlantic, Teruaki Nakatsuji and Richard Gallo from the University of California were able to discover that some bacteria found in a human's skin has the ability to kill the strains of microorganisms like the Staphylococcus aureus. In their study, both Nakatsuji and Gallo isolated those bacteria and tried to add them into a skin cream which aims to help in curing atopic dermatitis or eczema.
In the same study, Nakatsuji and Gallo further explained that S. aureus is usually rich in people suffering eczema. With the presence of S. aureus, the skin of the patient becomes dry and itchy. There is also the presence of red patches scattered on the different parts of the body of the patient.
Despite the S. aureus being a harmful strain of Staphylococcus, Nakatsuji and Gallo also clarified that some strains of Staphylococcus actually do the opposite thing. Through their study, they found out that the S. epidermis and S. hominis can actually help in combatting this harmful effect of S. aureus on eczema patients.
Scientists are seeing light in this research of using microbes to treat skin diseases. In an earlier article in The New York Times in 2014, AOBiome, a biotech start-up in Massachusetts, used cultivated Nitrosomonas eutropha, an ammonia-oxidizing bacteria that is usually located in dirt. AOBiome advocates that some of the hygienic products found in the market nowadays wash off not just the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria. With their project, they aim to bring back those good bacteria back to the body.
More and more researches are trying to see the perks of studying the human microbes especially in the field of medical science. For more updates, stay tuned only here in Science Times.
