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Should you let a dog lick your face?

With nearly half of the households in American having at least one dog, there's a lot people need to know about them. Our furry friends come in wide variety of breeds, each with their own unique traits and needs. "Man's best friend" can be a guardian, a helpful worker, a loyal friend, and a snuggly companion, but there's one thing almost all dogs have in common: Licking.

Some dogs lick way more than others, but it's rare to find a dog who never licks anyone or anything. Many dogs communicate and show affection by licking, which is sweet—if a little gross—depending on how slobbery they are. There's a common saying that dogs' mouths are cleaner than humans', which is a bit hard to believe when you see what some dogs put in their mouths, but it is true? What does science say about dog tongues and saliva? Is a dog licking our face something we should worry about?

dogs, dog mouths clean, dog tongues, dog licking, should you let a dog lick your facePooch smooches are sweet if they're not too slobbery.Photo credit: Canva

It turns out, the answer to whether a dog's mouth is cleaner than ours isn't super straightforward.

An 8th grader named Abby tackled this question in a science experiment that won her a Young Naturalists Award from the American Museum of Natural History in 2011. Her family had gotten a dog and her mom kept telling her not to let the dog lick her face because dog mouths are full of bacteria. Instead of arguing, Abby decided to find out herself if this was true.

"I hypothesized that human tongues would be cleaner than dog tongues," she wrote. "I thought this because humans brush their teeth at least once a day. I hypothesized that dogs' tongues would be dirty because they were always licking dirty things like garbage."

After diving into the research about bacteria that live in and on humans and dogs, Abby decided she had a testable hypothesis. But this wasn't any old middle school science experiment. She applied for and got a grant to the State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa, where she was assigned a mentor to work with her.

You can read the nitty gritty details of her experiment here, but here was her conclusion:

dogs, dog mouths clean, dog tongues, dog licking, should you let a dog lick your faceMany dogs will lick you if you give them the chance. Photo credit: Canva

"I concluded that dog and human mouth flora are very different. (Flora means the bacteria found in a mouth or anywhere else.) The bacteria found in human mouths are more similar to another human's oral bacteria than the bacteria found in a dog's mouth.

I also concluded that dogs' mouths are cleaner than humans' in some ways, and dirtier in other ways. Humans have more bacteria in their mouths than dogs do, based on the total number of bacteria. Most of the humans had a 'moderate' number of bacteria, and most of the dogs had 'few' bacteria. A possible explanation of this might be that dogs pant a lot, and maybe while panting, bacteria falls off their tongues along with their saliva. But dogs had more types of bacteria. The average number of different bacterial colonies in a dog's mouth was about 5.7. The average number of different bacterial colonies in a human's mouth was about 4.1. I think this is so because dogs sniff and lick a variety of things, like carpets, floors, chairs, grass, etc., so they pick up bacteria from many places."

But what about the licking of our faces? That's a bit of a subjective call, but Abby's results gave her some peace of mind:

"In conclusion, will I let my dog continue to lick me? The answer to the question is yes!" she wrote. "I will feel guiltless about letting my dog lick me because I found out that human and dog oral bacteria are different, so my dog's oral bacteria present no harm to me."

lick, licking, face, dogs, dogpuppy love kiss GIF by Pickler & BenGiphy

What do the experts say?

According to Colin Harvey, professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine and executive secretary at the American Veterinary Dental College, comparing dogs' mouths to humans' mouth is "like comparing apples to oranges." As Abby found, the microbes in a dog's mouth are very different than those in a human's.

The American Kennel Club elaborates:

"Most of the bacteria in your dog’s mouth aren’t zoonotic, which means you probably won’t get a disease from a big old doggy kiss. There are exceptions to this. Dogs that eat a raw diet are at an increased risk of contracting salmonella, which can be spread to humans. You also probably shouldn’t share kisses with a dog that regularly raids the litter box.

In other words, kissing your dog is less risky than kissing another human, but that doesn’t mean that your dog’s mouth is necessarily cleaner than a human’s—they just have a mostly incompatible set of germs."

dogs, dog mouths, dog kisses, dog teeth cleaningKeep your dog's mouth clean with regular teeth brushing.Photo credit: Canva

Keeping your dog's mouth healthy through regular teeth cleaning and dental check-ups can also help prevent issues that could potentially come from dog licks.

So there you have it. If your dog doesn't eat a raw diet and doesn't go snacking in the cat box (or some other equally fecal-bacteria-ridden place), their kisses are probably not going to hurt you. Guilt-free pooch smooches for the win!

Heroes

It looks like a takeout container, but it might be our best bet to fight Zika.

An innovative approach to battling Zika you should know about.

Soon, the solution to Zika could arrive in something as simple as a takeout box.

Image from Recode/YouTube.


For the past several years, researchers in Australia have been at work trying to develop a way to put a stop to dengue, a virus that — like Zika — is spread by way of a certain breed of mosquitoes.

The result is what's called a Mozzie Box, and Susan Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recently demonstrated how it works.

The Mozzie Box works by intentionally breeding disease carrying mosquitos, with a twist.

In the Mozzie Box, Aedes mosquitoes — the same kind that transmit diseases like Zika, dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and more — are bred.

And how exactly is breeding more mosquitoes the solution to a mosquito-borne illness?

The Mozzie Box mosquito eggs contain a bacteria called Wolbachia, which renders the grown mosquitoes essentially harmless (minus a few itchy bites here and there).

In other words:


GIFs from Recode/YouTube.

When the Mozzie Box mosquitoes fly off into the wild and begin mating, the Wolbachia bacteria is transmitted to their offspring.

That bacteria will then be passed down to future generations.

As time goes on, fewer mosquitoes will have the capability to carry Zika (or those other diseases), and the virus will become much less of an issue.


There are times when science can be so freaking cool, and this is definitely one of them.

The key to stopping Zika might lie in mosquito STDs. How cool is that?

But why is it so important to take steps like these? For one:

The 2016 Summer Olympics are scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, one of the areas hit hardest by Zika.

A number of athletes, such as Spanish basketball star Pau Gasol, have expressed concern over the virus and are considering skipping the games.

Despite the worry, the World Health Organization has advised against cancelling or moving the Olympics, writing, "Based on the current assessment of Zika virus circulating in almost 60 countries globally and 39 countries in the Americas, there is no public health justification for postponing or cancelling the games."

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

So even though the Olympics may go on as planned, that doesn't make the virus any less worrisome for the world as a whole.

The virus has been connected with birth defects in children and possible neurological problems in adults.

The most common concern is that mothers who contract Zika may give birth to babies with microcephaly, a condition where a baby is born with a much smaller head than expected.

A mother holds a 3-month-old girl with microcephaly. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

Help from governments sometimes seems out of reach, making finding a solution in the private sector that much more important.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden delivered an emotional call to the U.S. Congress, pleading for them to take the threat of Zika seriously.

"Imagine that you’re standing by and you see someone drowning, and you have the ability to stop them from drowning, but you can’t," Frieden said. "Now multiply that by 1,000 or 100,000. That’s what it feels like to know how to change the course of an epidemic and not be able to do it."

Frieden speaks about the Zika crisis on May 26, 2016, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

Maybe Mozzie Boxes will help bring an end to Zika and other dangerous diseases. Maybe they'll inspire others to take up important innovative work. Maybe they'll help make the world a better place, now and for future generations.

There's already been so much progress in how we treat, prevent, and test for dangerous diseases. Here's hoping that such innovation continues.

You can watch Susan Desmond-Hellmann's Mozzie Box demonstration below:

Want to do everything possible to protect yourself from disease? Grow a beard.

Think beards are dirty? This new research proves you couldn’t be more wrong.

Babyfaces be warned: We are entering the long-overdue era of the beard — a Beardaissance, if you will.

So. Freakin’. Classy. Image from Incredibeard, used with permission.


Yes, that’s right: It would appear that beards are making a bit of a comeback. They’re on our televisions. They’re in our bedrooms. Heck, we’ve even devoted an entire month of the year to them! The fact that Grizzly Adams was able to witness the Rise of the Beard before passing is easily one of the greatest social justices ever to be carried out.

Just imagine the secrets this beard must hold. Photo via iStock.

But did you know that, aside from protecting you from sunburn, keeping you warm in the winter, and saving a few remnants of that absolutely divine T-bone steak you had for dinner, a beard can actually improve your health?

Yes, it's true: Growing a beard can aid in fending off several varieties of diseases, according to a recent study published on BBC News.

Seeking to crush the age-old stereotype that beards are bug-infested bacteria gardens donned by only the most unhygienic among us were the folks at Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, Dr. Chris van Tulleken, Dr. Saleyha Ashan, and Dr. Michael Mosley.

First, their team revisited a study published in the Journal of Hospital Infection last year, which looked at whether bearded hospital workers were more likely to carry (and pass on) preventable and potentially fatal infections than their smooth-shaven counterparts.

The results of the study, surprisingly, found that bearded employees were three times less likely to be carrying MRSA, a common methicillin-resistant infection.

GIF from "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy."

Why? That’s the part researchers aren't so sure about. The authors of the study guessed that the micro-abrasions and cuts caused by shaving often served as target sites for these infections to breed. Trust Me, I’m a Doctor had a different theory: Our beards actually fight infection.

So van Tulleken (of Trust me, I’m a Doctor) took over the case. He swabbed the beards of 20 random men, then shipped the samples off to be tested by Dr. Adam Roberts, a microbiologist based at University College London. From those 20 samples, Roberts was able to grow over 100 types of bacteria.

Beards actually are bacteria gardens, after all, but in a life-saving way!

Two reasons to smile: Awesome beard. No MRSA. Photo via iStock.

“When you get a competitive environment like a beard where there are many different bacteria, they fight for food resources and space, so they produce things like antibiotics," Roberts said in an episode of Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.

Just as penicillin was created by fungus, it turns out that the bacteria in beards are actually the first line of defense against major diseases.

One of these badass beard bacteria "healers" goes by the name of Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Roberts found that it attacked and eradicated a form of drug-resistant E. coli during testing. With the rate of deaths due to antibiotic-resistant infections rising by the year, Roberts is hoping that this whiskery revelation will be a major breakthrough.

In fact, after Roberts’ research was published on BBC.com in January, the public began sending him their own samples of stubble for testing. And, believe it or not, his team was able to extract “anti-adhesion molecules” that, when added to toothpaste and mouthwash, could stop acid-producing bacteria from binding to our enamel.

You know what this means, don’t you? ZZ Top are going to live forever!

Photo by Ander Gillenea/AFP/Getty Images.

True
Gates Foundation

In the United States, more than 300 kids end up in the hospital for burn injuries every day.

Antibiotics are often part of routine burn treatment — even if the kids don't need them. We've all had experiences like this. It can take up to two days for a doctor to diagnose an infection, so we're given antibiotics as a "just to be safe" measure ... even if our injury isn't infected.

As a result, antibiotic resistance is now considered one of the biggest health threats we face today. Our overuse of antibiotics is leading to record high levels of antibiotic resistance, and infections and injuries that have been treatable for a long time may once again become difficult to get rid of.


But! Fear not! There's a brilliant new bandage out there that promises to help doctors cut down on doling out unnecessary antibiotics.

It's all about what turns neon green.

Developed by scientists at the University of Bath, this bandage-of-the-future is a special medical dressing that can determine if a wound becomes infected and get results faster than anything else out there today.

The so-called "best bandage ever" uses UV light to provide the answers people need ... fast.

These bandages contain nanocapsules that contain a dye that bursts open in the presence of disease-causing bacteria. Bright green = infection.


The test on the right is screaming, "Infection!"

As I mentioned before, it can take doctors up to two days to determine if a burn wound is infected. For young kids and their weak immune systems, two days untreated can become a dangerous situation when dealing with infection — or not.

"Children are at particular risk of serious infection from even a small burn," explained Dr. Amber Young. "However, with current methods clinicians can't tell whether a sick child might have a raised temperature due to a serious bacterial burn wound infection, or just from a simple cough or cold.

So it's understandable why antibiotics have been prescribed as precautionary measures for so long.

But with the arrival of these nanocapsule bandages, the future is now; an infection diagnosis is possible within just a few hours, giving doctors the green light to act fast and know exactly what steps are necessary.

This breakthrough can help put families at ease, cut down on hospital costs, and limit the use of unnecessary antibiotics – which has turned into a serious problem.

There's a reason the World Health Organization has launched its first-ever World Antibiotic Resistance Week. If we're not careful, common infections that have been easily treatable in the past will come back to cause some major problems.

This bandage saves the day in two amazing ways: speedy and more accurate diagnoses for infections and fewer unnecessary antibiotics.

For anyone who's been severely burned or injured, you know there's nothing you want more than fast solutions and less hospital time. A diagnosis in two days versus a diagnosis in a few hours is huge!

Nanocapsules to the rescue! Glow on (but preferably don't!), my tiny friends.

See them in action here: