150 KINDS OF GERMS ON THE HAND PALM

January 21, 2019Science & Faith

A study confirms that the human skin, especially the hand palm, contain many kinds of germs which differs between men and women. We might realize why Allah, the Almighty ordered us with ablution, let us read:

A new scientific research verified that germs are extensively found in the human skin and they live and multiply permanently. Some of these germs are beneficial; others are harmful and must be eliminated. This news was released by BBC, we shall review and comment on it, show how to read this news faithfully and what benefits we shall gain as Muslims.

A new study conducted by a team of researchers from University of Colorado at Boulder in USA discovered that the hand palms of women have wide spectrum of different germs comparing to the hand palms of men and that the hands of human beings attract large numbers of bacteria much more than what was used before. Moreover, added that a total of 150 kinds of germs and microorganisms live on the hand palms of the normal person in both men and women.

The researchers of the study, which has the name “Facts and records of the National Academy of Science meetings” had used sophisticated techniques for the study of genetic sequence, said that they hope that the search results will help scientists in establishing medical base to study the kinds of bacteria living in the human body. Such base will also help scientists in determining which of these organisms are involved in certain types of disease not others.

Dr. Noa Ferrer, the head of the research team of the study, said that mere knowledge of the number of bacteria detected in the hand palms of the participants is surprising. Also the bacterial diversity found on the palms of the participated women is not of less importance. This study detected and identified more than 4700 different kind of germs living on 102 hand palm of people participated in the study. Only five kinds of the detected bacteria were found in 51 participants.

The other attention drawing matter revealed by the study is that both left and right palms of the same person are having only 17% of the same germs and bacteria. Dr. ferrer explained the higher diversity detected in the women palms by referring to the fact that men tend to have more acidic skin which forms more hard and repellant environment for the germs. Presence of differences in other aspects like perspiration, oil glands and hormones production are contributing factors in attracting or repelling germs, there is another factor that men and women tend to use different types of cosmetics and detergents, like skin moisturizing cream.

The Photo above is an Electronic microscope magnified photo for germs on the hand palm, Dr. Ferer said that the study had concluded that washing hands had only sheer simple effect on bacterial diversity between palms of men and women participated in the study. A group of germs showed the ability to be removed from hands whereas other group showed the opposite and remained stuck into the skin. However, it should be noted that washing hands using antibacterial detergents stays the effective way in killing germs in both gender as long as these detergents specifically target the harmful bacteria which reduce risks of disease incidence.
Another search results published in the British Medical Journal, verified through revision of 51 studies that washing hands is the effective way, at the individual level, in preventing the spread of viruses of respiratory tract and they are even more effective when taken at the same time.

Another study published by Cochrane Library magazine had revealed that washing hands using water and soap only is a simple and effective method for preventing the spread of reparatory tract viruses starting from daily cold viruses up to the fatal kinds which lead to epidemics prevalence.

The study viewed that the diversity percentage on the hand palm is three times higher than that on fingers and wrist; it also seems to be higher than the percentage of bacteria present in the mouth and large intestine. Dr. Ferer confirms that ” we know that the bacteria linked skin is likely to have more impact in our health than other skin but actually we do not know how can these bacterial clusters affect the health of the skin itself and whether certain types of bacteria are more useful than others.

Dr. Valerie Carits, the director of the Health Department at the Collage of London for Health and Tropical Medicine, says: “the science still has many runs to route about how the germs interact with the human body, as it is thought that such clusters of microorganisms in our hands might be useful”.

WHAT BENEFITS CAN WE OBTAIN FROM THIS STUDY?

1. Washing hands is essential to get rid of some types of germs, noting that there are types of germs that are beneficial to the human being. So, have ablution several times a day permits removal of large number of germs and what remains will be beneficial to the man because Allah, all praises to Him, chose a natural system for protecting us by creating useful and harmful bacteria. In another search, the scientists verified that merely washing hands several times daily contribute in removal of many harmful germs from the skin.

Ablution is the washing of hands, face and foots which means washing the exposed and most vulnerable parts to germs clusters. This make us realize a new wisdom of ablution which is that Allah, the Almighty wanted us to keep our health and stay away from different diseases as with every ablution there is considerable number of germs and viruses are removed from hands, mouth, face, nose and legs.

2. The result of this study reminds me with a noble verse in which Allah, the Almighty says: “And the male is not like the female” (36: Al Imran). I should say glory to Allah that created males and females different from each other even in the kinds of germs living on their skin, see how precise are these divine expressions as everything is different between males and females then how they can be equal while Allah, the Almighty, created them different?

3. There is a remark, to which one of the honorable brothers brought my attention, which worth mentioning, that the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, used to put his hand when he yawn, of course not the palm of the hand but the other side where the number of germs is less because the surface of the hand is more exposed to air and less used than the palm of the hand, this might have scientific wisdom and Allah is the best knower.

“Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what you have taught us. Verily, it is You, the All-Knower, the All-Wise.”