INFECTIOUS HANDSHAKES
DON’T WORRY ABOUT CATCHING THINGS WHEN YOU’RE SHAKING HANDS AT GRADUATION, ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS
How many problematic bacteria are transferred in a handshake, and now that graduation season is in full swing, should you plead broken bones or arthritis to avoid shaking hands? David Bishai, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins, says his study culturing hands following graduation ceremonies in several settings turned up very few pathogens, so don’t worry.
BISHAI: Places like a graduation, maybe even a church where people are okay and they’re not sick, I don’t think that this is a scenario where we’re going to see a lot of bacterial pathogens being transmitted. I’d love to repeat the study during flu season, I’d like to look for viruses because I did not look for viruses in this study but I’m really not finding bacteria at a graduation, so yes, celebrate graduations. Now if you want to hug and kiss at a graduation, fine, it might be safer, but handshaking is safe too. :26
Bishai estimates one pathogenic strain of bacteria for every 5200 or so handshakes. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
