DUBAI: The next time someone moans when you ask them to take off their shoes before entering your house, just tell them how many hundreds of thousands of bacteria their footwear is carrying.

For a lot of people living in the Middle East it is quite normal for people to remove their shoes before entering someone’s home, and new research shows it is a good thing they do.

It should come as no surprise to anyone reading this that your footwear is covered in the same dirt, that the ground is.

University of Arizona microbiologist Dr. Charles Gerba revealed that after wearing a pair of new shoes for two weeks, there were 440,000 units of bacteria on the soles.

Some of the microorganisms found included: Escherichia coli, which causes infections, meningitis and diarrhea; and Klebsiella pneumonia, which is responsible for pneumonia.

Writing in Ciri Science, Dr. Gerba said: “The common occurrence (96 percent) of coliform and E. coli on the outside of the shoes indicates frequent contact with fecal material, which most likely originates from floors in public restrooms or contact with animal fecal matter.”

But there is some good news, apparently by washing the shoes with detergent you can eliminate fecal bacteria and reduce others by at least 90 percent.