Rethinking the handshake in wake of swine flu

Consumer Reports News: May 02, 2009 05:08 PM

Religious services may not be quite the same this weekend, thanks to the swine (H1N1) flu. "The Arlington diocese and the Baltimore archdiocese are recommending that Communion wine not be served in a common cup," reports the Washington Post. And shaking hands, a common feature of many services, may be replaced by bowing.

A 2003 report* from the Diocese of Toronto, when the city was in the middle of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) scare, concluded that sipping from a common cup and shaking hands represented minimal risks. But the practice of intinction—dipping sacramental bread in wine—posed a bigger threat, it said.

Of course, handshaking isn't confined to religious services. Our sister publication, The Consumerist, took a typically offbeat view of the role of hand shaking during the swine flu outbreak, and offered some "new handshakes that minimize direct human contact."

*links to PDF

—Kevin McCarthy, associate editor