How many germs under your fingernails

In some cases, these infections may be serious and need to be treated by a physician. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Nail Hygiene Minus Related Pages. To help prevent the spread of germs and nail infections: Keep nails short and trim them often. Scrub the underside of nails with soap and water or a nail brush every time you wash your hands. Clean any nail grooming tools before use.

In commercial settings such as nail salons External , sterilize nail grooming tools before use. Speaking of hospitals, did you see this post about patient safety? Scary stuff. Sorry guys, your nails are germier. According to experts , men have more germs camping out under their fingernails than women.

Yes ladies, it's OK to ask him to wash his hands now and then--especially before getting romantic! Nail biters may actually have cleaner nails. But, the good news stops there. According to research , while the act of biting nails may clear out bacteria, nail biters ingest more germs. So, what's a germ-conscious gal to do? The researchers wanted to see whether 56 nurses with artificial nails, which tend to be longer than natural nails and are almost always covered in nail polish, had more bacteria on their fingertips than 56 nurses with natural nails.

They also wanted to see whether handwashing was more or less effective for those with artificial nails. They discovered that nurses with artificial nails had more bacteria on their fingertips than did those with natural nails, both before and after handwashing.

Still, the assumption is that more bacteria at least increases the potential for pathogen transmission. Similar studies published in and yielded similar results.

But by then, nursing researchers had evidence that artificial nails were also associated with poor handwashing practices, which only served to compound the problem. And artificial nails, they realized, were also more likely to tear disposable gloves. Painted, natural nails, on the other hand, tell a different story.

The fear with polish is that tiny chips or cracks in the paint could harbour bacteria. In , nurses from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore looked at the fingernails of 26 adult women who were employed by the hospital, but not involved in patient care.

All had short fingernails, and all were assessed both before and four days after nail polish was applied. Washing hands isn't enough - you have to make sure your finger nails are clean too Credit: Getty Images. Nail polish on natural nails did not seem to affect the richness of fingertip bacterial micro-biodiversity in the same way as polish on artificial ones, however.

Another study conducted the following year reached a similar conclusion.