A man’s beard can be many things – dignified, stylish, rugged – but it can also be a Petri dish of nastiness. In fact, a recent study revealed that every single beard testedcontained bacteria.

ProfessorAndreas Gutzeit of the Hirslanden Clinic in Switzerland was first curious if a human could pick up a “dog-borne illness” from an MRI scanner used in veterinarian exams. During the study, he took swabs from the beards of 18 guys and 30 dog necks. Then, he compared.

What he found? That there was “significantly” more bacteria in the beard samples than in the dog fur. In fact, every guy tested showed “high microbial counts.” On the other hand, only 23 of the 30 dogs had counts that would be considered “high.” To add insult to injury, of the 18 beards tested, sevenof them had microbes considered to be a “threat to human health.”

As such, Dr. Gutzeit has decreed that “dogs can be considered clean as compared to bearded men.” Not surprisingly, the dudes with the Beard Liberation Front see things differently. Spokesman Keith Flett points out that if you took swabs from anyone’s hair or hands, you’d be likely to find some form of unpleasantness. Still, it’s hard to say argue against washing the thing from time to time.

Source: Daily Mail