[pct-l] Handshakes

[Alan Thurman]

I say just use the pornstar handshake and rub elbows.(porn stars are dirty
up to their forearms)

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 10:01 PM, Eric Martinot <eric at martinot.info> wrote:

> 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
>
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