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Epidermis as a Platform for Bacterial Transmission

The epidermis constitutes a continuous external layer covering the body, offering protection against bacteria, the most abundant living organisms that come into contact with this barrier. The epidermis is heavily colonized by commensal bacterial organisms that help protect against pathogenic bacteri...

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Autores principales: Baquero, Fernando, Saralegui, Claudia, Marcos-Mencía, Daniel, Ballestero, Luna, Vañó-Galván, Sergio, Moreno-Arrones, Óscar M., del Campo, Rosa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8671829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34925344
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.774018
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author Baquero, Fernando
Saralegui, Claudia
Marcos-Mencía, Daniel
Ballestero, Luna
Vañó-Galván, Sergio
Moreno-Arrones, Óscar M.
del Campo, Rosa
author_facet Baquero, Fernando
Saralegui, Claudia
Marcos-Mencía, Daniel
Ballestero, Luna
Vañó-Galván, Sergio
Moreno-Arrones, Óscar M.
del Campo, Rosa
author_sort Baquero, Fernando
collection PubMed
description The epidermis constitutes a continuous external layer covering the body, offering protection against bacteria, the most abundant living organisms that come into contact with this barrier. The epidermis is heavily colonized by commensal bacterial organisms that help protect against pathogenic bacteria. The highly regulated and dynamic interaction between the epidermis and commensals involves the host’s production of nutritional factors promoting bacterial growth together to chemical and immunological bacterial inhibitors. Signal trafficking ensures the system’s homeostasis; conditions that favor colonization by pathogens frequently foster commensal growth, thereby increasing the bacterial population size and inducing the skin’s antibacterial response, eliminating the pathogens and re-establishing the normal density of commensals. The microecological conditions of the epidermis favors Gram-positive organisms and are unsuitable for long-term Gram-negative colonization. However, the epidermis acts as the most important host-to-host transmission platform for bacteria, including those that colonize human mucous membranes. Bacteria are frequently shared by relatives, partners, and coworkers. The epidermal bacterial transmission platform of healthcare workers and visitors can contaminate hospitalized patients, eventually contributing to cross-infections. Epidermal transmission occurs mostly via the hands and particularly through fingers. The three-dimensional physical structure of the epidermis, particularly the fingertips, which have frictional ridges, multiplies the possibilities for bacterial adhesion and release. Research into the biology of bacterial transmission via the hands is still in its infancy; however, tribology, the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion, including friction, wear and lubrication, will certainly be an important part of it. Experiments on finger-to-finger transmission of microorganisms have shown significant interindividual differences in the ability to transmit microorganisms, presumably due to genetics, age, sex, and the gland density, which determines the physical, chemical, adhesive, nutritional, and immunological status of the epidermal surface. These studies are needed to optimize interventions and strategies for preventing the hand transmission of microorganisms.
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spelling pubmed-86718292021-12-16 Epidermis as a Platform for Bacterial Transmission Baquero, Fernando Saralegui, Claudia Marcos-Mencía, Daniel Ballestero, Luna Vañó-Galván, Sergio Moreno-Arrones, Óscar M. del Campo, Rosa Front Immunol Immunology The epidermis constitutes a continuous external layer covering the body, offering protection against bacteria, the most abundant living organisms that come into contact with this barrier. The epidermis is heavily colonized by commensal bacterial organisms that help protect against pathogenic bacteria. The highly regulated and dynamic interaction between the epidermis and commensals involves the host’s production of nutritional factors promoting bacterial growth together to chemical and immunological bacterial inhibitors. Signal trafficking ensures the system’s homeostasis; conditions that favor colonization by pathogens frequently foster commensal growth, thereby increasing the bacterial population size and inducing the skin’s antibacterial response, eliminating the pathogens and re-establishing the normal density of commensals. The microecological conditions of the epidermis favors Gram-positive organisms and are unsuitable for long-term Gram-negative colonization. However, the epidermis acts as the most important host-to-host transmission platform for bacteria, including those that colonize human mucous membranes. Bacteria are frequently shared by relatives, partners, and coworkers. The epidermal bacterial transmission platform of healthcare workers and visitors can contaminate hospitalized patients, eventually contributing to cross-infections. Epidermal transmission occurs mostly via the hands and particularly through fingers. The three-dimensional physical structure of the epidermis, particularly the fingertips, which have frictional ridges, multiplies the possibilities for bacterial adhesion and release. Research into the biology of bacterial transmission via the hands is still in its infancy; however, tribology, the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion, including friction, wear and lubrication, will certainly be an important part of it. Experiments on finger-to-finger transmission of microorganisms have shown significant interindividual differences in the ability to transmit microorganisms, presumably due to genetics, age, sex, and the gland density, which determines the physical, chemical, adhesive, nutritional, and immunological status of the epidermal surface. These studies are needed to optimize interventions and strategies for preventing the hand transmission of microorganisms. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8671829/ /pubmed/34925344 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.774018 Text en Copyright © 2021 Baquero, Saralegui, Marcos-Mencía, Ballestero, Vañó-Galván, Moreno-Arrones and del Campo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Immunology
Baquero, Fernando
Saralegui, Claudia
Marcos-Mencía, Daniel
Ballestero, Luna
Vañó-Galván, Sergio
Moreno-Arrones, Óscar M.
del Campo, Rosa
Epidermis as a Platform for Bacterial Transmission
title Epidermis as a Platform for Bacterial Transmission
title_full Epidermis as a Platform for Bacterial Transmission
title_fullStr Epidermis as a Platform for Bacterial Transmission
title_full_unstemmed Epidermis as a Platform for Bacterial Transmission
title_short Epidermis as a Platform for Bacterial Transmission
title_sort epidermis as a platform for bacterial transmission
topic Immunology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8671829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34925344
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.774018
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