A new study has found a man’s beard contains more germs than a dog’s fur.
Investigators with the Hirsladen Clinic in Switzerland took swab samples from the whiskers of 18 men, comparing them with samples from the necks of 30 dogs of varying breeds.
Their findings indicated that all of the bearded men, ranging in age from 18 to 76, showed high microbial counts, but only 23 out of 30 dogs had high counts, the London Daily Mail reports.
The report indicates that seven of men who were sampled were found to be harboring in their beards microbes that posed a threat to human health.
Professor Andreas Gutzeit of the Hirslanden Clinic told the Daily Mail, “On the basis of these findings, dogs can be considered as clean compared with bearded men.”
The study was conducted by scientists investigating whether there is a risk that humans might pick up a dog-borne disease from an MRI scanner that was also used by veterinarians for exams.
