Fist Bumping is Nonsense...

To this day many engage in the ritual of bumping fists this is a relic from the COVID-19 scare and when I ask people about why they do it the reason usually given is that it'll cut the rate of transmission of covid and other serious infections. Meaning, those people think they're actually saving lives by bumping fists rather than shaking hands. There's no significant evidence to suggest that bumping fists is safer or decreases the rate of transmission of any infectious disease rather than shaking hands. Also, let's look at the mechanics of microbial seeding. First of all, we're all surrounded by a microbial cloud that's formed by microbes that are being shed dislodged off the skin and coming out of other orifices of the body such as the nostrils the mouth, and the digestive tract. Those clouds surround the body continuously and interact with other microbial clouds of other living organisms as well as fomites or inanimate objects seeding those, including clothes, sheets, furniture,  countertops and anything and everything in between. Therefore, no matter how hard you try you really can't escape this microbial cloud and you can't escape any humanly inhabited environment because those environments are continuously and perpetually seeded with microbes that float around people and other living organisms. 

 

So your environment is saturated with microbes whether you like it or not, the fist bump will likely have no significant effect of your transmission of microbes good or bad and therefore shouldn't  make much of a difference. I would avoid it altogether. It is extremely difficult to curb the transmission of microbes good or bad and the fist bump simply won't do it. Remember that most likely - you are not going into an operating suite or a surgical suite to operate. If you’re like most people, you’re  living in your home environment, your work environment where things are all seeded with your own microbes, the microbes of your colleagues, your family members, your friends and your pets. This is inescapable and there's no way of getting away from that. No amount of fist bumping is going to mitigate that. Humans have always lived with their microbiome and their environmental microbes. It's time that we accept this fact and shift to a more sensible approach when it comes to disinfection. So shake hands! You can touch your face. You can even give the occasional hug. You'll be just fine!

Thanks for reading and God bless.

 

Yuval Bibi, MD/PhD - Board Certified Dermatologist

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