0

This seems like it should be known, but it's hard to look up specifically with search terms. Searching in PubMed I can find Katsuse, 2019 hypothesizing a risk of nosocomial infection to patients from nurses' earrings. But has it been studied whether exposure to earring-related pathogens does anything to "vaccinate" the wearer directly, thereby reducing their own risk of infections, or alternatively whether they are at greater risk due to the ongoing exposure?

Mike Serfas
  • 143
  • 4
  • Seems unlikely since once fully healed a pierce hole is lined with intact skin and scar tissue that's impervious to bacteria. Were it not so, piercings would be at risk of infection forever. – Carey Gregory Nov 01 '22 at 19:12
  • @CareyGregory - the paper I cited has a small sample size, but describes higher rates of S. aureus recovered from the workers with piercings. I would also suspect that as with a vaccination, the immune response might last much longer than the pathogen. – Mike Serfas Nov 01 '22 at 22:03
  • I read the paper. What I meant was unlikely was that having a pierce enhances immune response. A pierce hole might serve as a nice hiding place for S. aureus, and the earring might move the bacteria around, but I doubt that having the pierce has any effect on the person's immune response. How would the immune system come in contact with skin bacteria on intact skin? – Carey Gregory Nov 01 '22 at 23:54
  • @CareyGregory I'm just speculating, but I'd assume that the wearer needs to fight off the bacteria after the initial piercing, and possibly on multiple other occasions if there is any ongoing abrasion etc. If the paper found more S. aureus on fingers (and I'll admit, it's a small sample to say that) then that seems to imply something more than just an extra square centimeter of hiding space. (A person only bleeds for a short time after a flu shot, but it has a lasting effect...) – Mike Serfas Nov 03 '22 at 23:09
  • Well, sure, it's possible but I'm skeptical. How about surrogates? Do people who've had multiple skin wounds from other sources have any sort of enhanced protection from surgical infections? If evidence of that exists I think it would make your question a lot more credible. – Carey Gregory Nov 04 '22 at 00:49
  • I don't know how to make a question "credible". To be sure, I am curious about other wounds, but piercings go deeper than skin per se, seem unusually easy to measure quantitatively and might have fewer confounders. – Mike Serfas Nov 04 '22 at 23:19
  • I was suggesting that additional research on your part would improve your question. Specifically, is there research showing that multiple minor wounds confer some sort of enhanced immunity? It seems really unlikely to me that one or two puncture wounds have any lasting effect on immunity. – Carey Gregory Nov 04 '22 at 23:25

0 Answers0