REAL LIFE NEWS: THE PERILS OF KISSING
By Hazed
Did you know that when you kiss somebody, you don’t just share the love – you share bacteria. Scientists reckon as many as 80 million bacteria could be transferred every time your lips touch another’s.
There are about 700 types of bacteria living in the mouth, and couples who regularly kiss share many varieties. Just a 10 second snog can allow 80 million of the little blighters to hop from mouth to mouth.
Dutch researchers quizzed 21 couples about how often they indulged in a bout of kissing, and then swabbed their mouths to investigate the bacteria found on their tongues and in their saliva.
Just nine snogs a day is enough for significant similarities to occur in the salivary microbiota.
The good news is that, by and large, the bacteria are harmless, and some are even “friendly” bacteria who help to fend off more unpleasant bugs. But still. You might want to think about this before you go out snogging strangers.
