Is It Really That Bad To Share Drinks? Here’s What Doctors Say.
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Infectious disease doctors give the verdict on sharing backwash with your friends, kids or significant other.
Three years ago, the idea of letting a friend take a swig from your water bottle would elicit panic and horror — the COVID of it all! But in this post-pandemic world (where COVID-19 still exists but we’re no longer panicking about it in the same way), we’ve collectively become less germaphobic.
Next time you meet a friend at happy hour, you may gladly hand over your cocktail for them to try. At colleges across the country, countless lips will make contact with the same red cup during drinking games. What are the risks really? Keep reading to find out when sharing is no big deal and when it’s better to keep your drink to yourself.
The Risk Of Sharing Drinks With Adult Friends
According to Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a pathologist and clinical microbiologist at Mayo Clinic, whenever you share a drink with a friend, there’s the potential of catching something. Some things aren’t too worrisome (like the common cold) and some are more threatening. “There’s a whole bunch of different types of microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Some of them can survive in saliva,” Pritt said.
Some of these, she added, can survive on a dry surface (like the lip of a cup or opening of a straw) until they’re washed. That means it isn’t just the backwash that could potentially transmit something contagious.
