Urbanization leads to a vast decrease in bacterial diversity and an increase in chemical diversity on the skin, a keynote lecture on the skin microbiome will reveal today at the 29th EADV Congress, EADV Virtual.
Urbanization is associated with reduced outdoor exposure, increased contact with housing materials, antimicrobials and cleaning products, and increased exposure to synthetic chemical diversity. Through urbanization, the natural human and plant-based molecules on the hands and skin are largely replaced by synthetic and cosmetic ingredients with an increase in potentially pathogenic bacteria, stress-tolerant bacteria, potentially pathogenic fungi and fungal biomass.
