Socializing Helps Spread Good Bacteria, Study Finds

A new study from Duke University revealed that socializing encourages the spread of good bacteria. Isolation and a limited diet are harmful to our gut microbes.

Most of us believe that being in close contact with the crowd risks us from the spread of bacteria and disease. For instance, commuting in a train where one passenger has a cold might give you the same illness. However, a new study, published in Science Advances, suggested that being around others have positive results too.

Medical Daily reported that the researchers studied the wild chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania from 2000 to 2008. They followed 40 individuals from babies to seniors and gathered their poop while noting what the animals ate and how much time they spent with others, Daily Capital has learned.

The poops were taken to the lab, where they sequenced the DNA of all the bacteria inside. They learned that chimps' microbiomes were about 20 to 25 percent more diverse during the rainy season. It is at this time when bugs, fruits and leaves were in abundance, so they have more food to share and tend to spend more time together.

The researchers noted that extroverted chimps had more diverse microbiomes in their gastrointestinal tracts than chimps that were less socially active. The scientists believed that the social interaction had a larger influence although the amount and type of food during the different season contributed to the result.

There's a chance that the gut bacteria were transferred during grooming or mating. There are also chances of one individual accidentally stepping in another's poop when the chimpanzees were in close proximity. There was a lot of bacterial transmission going on. The report also revealed that, the more friendly the chimp, the more diverse its gut bacteria is, which is healthy.

"The more diverse people's microbiomes are, the more resistant they seem to be to opportunistic infections," co-author Andrew Moeller said.

The bacteria found in chimpanzee guts were similar to that found among friends or between mothers and babies, which suggested that social interaction is more vital than what was previously believed.

The said study was very interesting because it offers new information about social interaction. "One of the main reasons that we started studying the microbiomes of chimpanzees was that it allowed us to do studies that have not or cannot be done in humans," study co-author Howard Ochman said. "It's really an amazing and previously underexploited resource."

More studies are needed to show how the diversity of gut bacteria affects the health of the chimpanzees and how the findings might apply to humans.