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Factors Controlling Skin Bacterial Flora

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Skin Microbiology

Abstract

Several factors contorl skin colonization of bacteria, including pathogens, on human skin. When artificially applied on human skin, many pathogenic microorganisms (such as ß-hemolytic streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus) do not survive for more than a few hours.Yet, on some, these organisms survive, multiply, and produce disease. Cutaneous bacterial flora do not numerically reflect the types of organisms in ambient air, suggesting that skin controls the survival of bacteria contracting it. In our view, the skin environment is unfriendly to most microbial species but sufficient nutrients are available to allow a certain number of bacteria to survive and multiply.

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Authors
  1. Raza Aly
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  2. Howard Maibach
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, University of California, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA

    Howard I. Maibach M.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Department of Dermatology, Department of Microbiology, University of California, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA

    Raza Aly Ph.D. (Associate Professor) (Associate Professor)

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© 1981 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Aly, R., Maibach, H. (1981). Factors Controlling Skin Bacterial Flora. In: Maibach, H.I., Aly, R. (eds) Skin Microbiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5868-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5868-1_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-5870-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5868-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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