Microbiological laboratory hazard of bearded men.
by David Ng
Barbeito, MS; Mathews, CT; Taylor, LA (1967). “Microbiological laboratory hazard of bearded men”. Applied microbiology 15 (4): 899–906. PMID 4963447
“An investigation was conducted to evaluate the hypothesis that a bearded man subjects his family and friends to risk of infection if his beard is contaminated by infectious microorganisms while he is working in a microbiological laboratory. Bearded and unbearded men were tested with Serratia marcescens and Bacillus subtilis var. niger.Contact aerosol transmission from a contaminated beard on a mannequin to a suitable host was evaluated with both Newcastle disease virus and Clostridium botulinum toxin, type A. The experiments showed that beards retained microorganisms and toxin despite washing with soap and water. Although washing reduced the amount of virus or toxin,a sufficient amount remained to produce disease upon contact with a suitable host.”
Pdf of first page of article
Link to journal article
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beards are worth it!
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My only comment is that I have been bushily bearded since the age of 17, and in all that time, I have been far, far more frequently ill than all of the people (in total) with whom I am closely in contact, including (especially) my wife. That includes the last 20-odd (some extremely odd) years working with a variety of microbes in the lab. I’m not disputing the results, of course; merely pointing out that there’s more to contagion than simply presence of the infectious agent. I realize that it’s not a perfect analogy, but just for the record, it often takes more than a single exposure to sperm to produce a pregnancy.
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