Are there soil microbes under my fingernails?

Most of the microbes you might encounter in garden soil are more likely to be neutral, in terms of health effects, rather than causing illness.

Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)
Apr 15, 2021

Excerpt:

If you’ve been gardening without gloves lately, then the answer is probably “yes.” But that is, for the most part, a good thing – besides having to clean your hands!

In garden soil there are millions to billions of microorganisms, or microbes. They could be bacteria, fungi, viruses, and archaea. Baseline estimates suggest that there are tens of thousands of different soil microbes.

Soil health and biodiversity are closely linked with human health. Some of the health-relevant roles played by soil have been well-investigated, such as the ability to:produce nutritious food,
hold carbon,
lessen the effects of environmental pollutants, and
purify water.

Other important functions, however, remain poorly characterized. Little is known about interactions between farmers or gardeners and soil microorganisms. They are both exposed to soil microbes while doing their work.

Gardeners are more likely to cultivate the soil with their hands than most farmers. They are more likely to experience close and extended contact with microorganisms in the soil. However, we currently lack even the most basic understanding of how much microbial transfer from soil to skin occurs, what types of microorganisms are transferred, or how long they persist. That’s the focus of my post-graduate research.

Read the complete article here.