A kiss and 8 million germs

A new study shows that 80 million bacteria can be transferred after a single 10-second kiss.

A new research reveals that the mouth is home to more than 700 different types of bacteria. These can easily be exchanged with other people’s mouth though kissing. In addition, people who kissed nine time a day were most likely to share salivary bugs with one another.

Dutch scientists observed the kissing behavior of 21 couples for this study. The researchers from Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) assessed the kissing habits of the couples such as how many times they locked lips or how frequent.

The scientists then took bacterial samples from each participants tongue and saliva before and after the 10-second kiss. 

After the kiss, scientists checked their bacterial sample again and detected a transfer of 80 million bacteria after the single 10-second kiss. Bacteria in the saliva changed quickly according to researchers after the kiss but bacteria in the tongue remained more stable.

Prof Remco Kort, who led the research said, "French kissing is a great example of exposure to a gigantic number of bacteria in a short time.

"But only some bacteria transferred from a kiss seemed to take hold on the tongue,” Kort added.

Kort in addition quoted, "Further research should look at the properties of the bacteria and the tongue that contribute to this sticking power.” “These types of investigations may help us design future bacterial therapies and help people with troublesome bacterial problems.”

The Dutch scientists worked with e world's first museum of microbes, based in Amsterdam, the Micropia where they invited couples to share a kiss and are provided with an instant analysis of the bugs they have exchanged.