Microbial communities play a critical role in health, and their composition is shaped by environment and cohabitation. Song et al. (2013) investigated this by sampling fecal, oral, and skin microbiota from 60 families that included couples with children, with dogs, both, or neither. The study revealed that household members share more microbiota with one another than with outsiders, and that the effect of cohabitation was strongest on the skin microbiome.
The presence of a dog significantly increased shared skin microbiota among adults. In fact, dog owners shared more microbial species with their own dogs than with other dogs, demonstrating the powerful role of direct and frequent contact in shaping microbial communities. While the degree to which these shared microbes represent stable colonizers or simply transient transfers remains uncertain, the findings underscore the influence of pet ownership on human microbial ecology.
This research highlights how close interactions with dogs not only affect emotional and social well-being but also extend into the microbial dimension of human health. By reshaping the microbial landscape of households, dogs may play a subtle yet important role in immune function, skin health, and overall microbial diversity.
Source: Song, S. J., Lauber, C., Costello, E., Lozupone, C., Humphrey, G., Lyons, D., Caporaso, J., Knights, D., Clemente, J., Nakielny, S., Gordon, J., Fierer, N., & Knight, R. (2013). Cohabiting family members share microbiota with one another and with their dogs. eLife, 2. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00458.001
