SSS 2011-05-19（在线收听）

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.

It’s graduation season. And some scientists got to wondering whether the folks who shake hundreds of hands while passing out diplomas run the risk of coming away with a fistful of infectious microbes, such as Staphylococcus aureus. Good news—turns out the risk of being passed a disease-causing bacterium while pressing the flesh is pretty remote. That’s according to a study in the Journal of School Nursing.

The researchers swabbed the palms of 14 school officials before and after graduation. They found that before the ceremony, and even after a slathering of sanitizer, hands were home to plenty of nonharmful bacteria. On the infectious scorecard, one dean brought Staph aureus to a commencement. Two others at a different ceremony walked away with it. And one of those samples came from a left hand, which didn’t participate in any of the meeting-or-greeting. So the math says that of more than 5,000 handshakes, just one may have passed along something less welcome than a sheepskin.

So if you’re graduating this spring, feel free to shake hands, while you wonder if the last person who wore that robe had anything contagious.

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.