Give germs the bumps

We Are about to reach the time for Christmas parties. This gathering of groups is a happy hunting ground for colds and flu germs, both airborne and contact spread.

Kisses are safer on the cheek than on the lips, but shaking hands, especially for men, who do more handshaking than women, is an unforeseen way of infecting a group of people.

st George’s hospital in London has notices proclaiming ‘This is a no shaking hands hospital’ and suggests ‘Fist bumps’. Why?

someone with a cold or in the early stages of flu will be blowing their nose into a handkerchief or tissue, which will transfer germs to the underside of their palms and fingers.

With a cough or sneeze, we mostly cover our mouths or noses with a semi-open palm, making it infectious with plenty of germs on the palm and fingers waiting to be transferred to an unlimited number of hand shakers.

someone in the medical profession has recommended this way of greeting (replacing handshaking) based on the theory that there are fewer germs, if any, on the outside of the closed fist.

several of my family and friends have used this method of greeting for a year or so and although handshaking is a time-honoured and friendly ritual, we’ve used the fist bump and found that no one objects.

it isn’t fanciful to suggest that this might save many thousands of people from colds or flu, reducing the chances of epidemics. BRIAN CROWDER, Barton Mills, Suffolk.