[pct-l] Handshakes

[Eric Martinot]

My top-ten item #11, "never shake hands," seems to have stirred up  
some discussion of handshakes and hygiene, so I want to clarify a  
little my meaning of "sketchy hygiene" because to me it is quite  
specific.

I've never been bothered by dirt or smelly clothes or anything in the  
environment with respect to health, nor by people who haven't bathed  
for a week (hugging is fine too), but to me, there are two main  
differences on-trail vs. off-trail with respect to hygiene:

(1) Lack of soap and water after doing your business in a cathole (the  
"fecal matter" from Eric Lee's post).  I've never carried any soap and  
presume most others don't either, and often there is no running water  
nearby and so a splash from a water bottle or maybe some grass and  
dirt, but still no soap.

(2) Lack of kleenex so you blow your nose with your fingers pressed on  
the side.  Especially if its really cold the thick mucus is  
everywhere, contagious if you happen to be fighting a respiratory  
virus at the time from the stress of the trail.

Either of these raises the potential to infect others by shaking  
hands, beyond normal off-trail life.  Still might not be a problem,  
except that since washing hands is sometimes much more difficult or  
infrequent on-trail than off-trail, you are less *likely* to have  
washed after shaking hands before doing something like eating, or  
wiping your eyes from stinging sweat, or washing your cook pot with  
your fingers at a dry camp with no water to spare.  Therefore, the  
most straightforward approach is just not to shake hands at all.

I started not shaking hands in the early years mostly because I was  
concerned about giving something *to* someone else who might not wash  
their hands before they next ate, not the other way around.   
Especially someone I had just helped or gotten to know enough that  
they *wanted* to shake my hand in parting.   Some years later, after I  
started carrying "wet ones" wipes for the main purpose to avoid skin  
rashes and sores on my bottom (from my top-ten list), and then started  
using one for the hands too, I felt a bit better, but was still  
concerned.

Not responding to an outstretched hand is really hard to do, given  
conditioning over a lifetime to automatically respond.  But I once  
saved myself from a street mugging by not automatically shaking the  
outstretched hand of a stranger who was counting on my automatic  
response to hold me, and since then have always considered it a  
choice, although as I said, countering the implied rudeness in some  
way is the main problem.  Several here have now suggested the fist- 
bump, and very interesting to learn it happens among doctors and  
nurses in hospitals in lieu of handshakes.

Eric




[pct-l] Handshakes
Michael S michaels at skepticalraptor.com
Wed Feb 8 15:57:14 CST 2012

I'm sorry, but there's no such thing as a "balanced ecosystem of  
germs" since every day we are exposed to thousands, if not millions of  
new viruses and bacteria every day. And water is a major source of  
intestinal issues, mostly not because of bacteria or viruses, but  
mainly from pathogenic parasites such as nematodes, amoeba, and other  
things.

  But I do agree with you. Not only would I not want to eat from  
someone else's gorp bag, but I wouldn't want them in mine. In a  
healthcare setting, no one sticks their hands into someone else's  
potato chips or peanuts, they pour it out into their hands. Probably  
something you should do if you run into a starving soul on the trail.

Michael

On Feb 8, 2012, at 13:39 :47PST, Eric Lee wrote:

Michael wrote: > However, I'm going to have to say that being on the  
trail for weeks on end, passing of bacteria or viruses is not going to  
be much of an issue, because you'll touch your clothing (especially  
since you're just bringing one set to go light), your own skin, rocks,  
dirt, water, etc. Seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. >

The issue isn't *all* germs, but rather picking up new germs that  
aren't already part of your balanced ecosystem of germs; in  
particular, new fecal-borne germs that you don't already have. Those  
are the ones that upset the balance and make you sick. I don't have  
references available at the moment but my understanding is that a lot  
of illnesses that people blame on bad water are actually caused by bad  
fecal matter picked up from other people via handshakes, dipping into  
each other's gorp bags, etc.

  Eric