Cooties is a fictitious childhood disease, commonly represented as childlore. It is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines as a rejection term and an infection tag game (such as Humans vs. Zombies).

What exactly are cooties?

"Cooties" refers to a highly infectious disease. The word "cootie" derives from the Tagalog word "kutu," or "parasitic biting insect." The related word "kudis" translates to "playground death." Contraction. The spread of cooties is caused by physical contact between males and females of the human species.

Do boys or girls have cooties?

It turns out one gender really does have more cooties than the other, according to a study out this month that compared the number of different types of bacteria on the hands of males and females. ... The study found that women actually have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do.