Do you know that there are consequences when you shove your hand into the bag of chips and share it with everyone else or when you bite a chunk off the chicken nugget and dip it in the sauce again?
There are times where we just couldn’t help but to share our food out of curiosity of how food from the others tastes like or just because we couldn’t finish a plate by ourselves. Sometimes, we even share our utensils due to convenience.
Though, who would’ve thought that one bite is all it takes to get us into trouble. Sharing food and utensils has been a long traditional practice in many Asian cultures and that is one of the easiest ways for bacteria to spread. Here are some of the infections commonly spread through saliva.
RHINOVIRUS
Often referred to as the ‘common cold’, rhinovirus is the one to blame for most of your clinic visits and absenteeism in the school as well as the workplace. You may experience symptoms like runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, headaches and fever when you catch a cold. Sharing objects or a slight cough and sneeze can easily pass the virus around people. This condition does not usually cause serious implications but it may worsen asthma attacks for certain individuals.
FLU VIRUS
People can get confused between a flu and a cold as they have overlapping symptoms. However, flu can have more severe symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and might lead to serious complications like pneumonia. Similar to a cold, the flu virus can be transmitted through droplets from our nose and mouth and even objects as we unconsciously touch our faces and proceed to lay our hands on the objects around us.
STREP BACTERIA
The streptococcal bacteria is a type of contagious bacteria that are responsible for the common throat infection known as strep throat. This condition can cause serious discomfort in our throat such as pain when swallowing, swollen tonsils, fever and body ache. Likewise, this infection can be caught through sneezing, coughing and the sharing of items. When this condition is left untreated and persists, it could cause further inflammation on other parts of the body.
MENINGITIS
Damaging the membranes around the brain and spinal cord, meningitis is a series of viral, bacterial and fungal infections on the lining of the brain. Bacterial meningitis is the most serious and contagious infection out of all. People acquire sensitivity towards light, neck stiffness, sleepiness and defects in mental ability through said condition. This infection can be spread through body’s fluid via actions like kissing, sharing of personal belongings and sharing of foods.
HOW DO YOU PREVENT?
#1 AVOID SHARING
Do not share foods, drinks, utensils and napkins with anyone. If you want to share a serving with your dining partner, get yourself a set of cutleries or request them from the waiters if you’re dining out. Scoop a portion to your plate and pour yourself a cup before digging in.
#2 CHOOSE/REQUEST FOR A SMALLER PORTION
Before placing an order, try to choose or request for a smaller portion if you do not think that you can finish a serving by yourself. Otherwise, you can ask for a takeaway and have the leftovers later in the day.
#3 WASH YOUR UTENSILS
Be sure to discard used napkins and wash any utensils that was left unattended on the table or have been used previously. This will be the only way to ensure that the tools that you’ll be eating with are free of contaminants.
Sharing foods and drinks might seem fine on the surface as you’ve not seen any issues doing it all this while. However, it is better to avoid putting our health at risk as we are never absolutely certain with the health conditions of the other party including our families.
Sources: CDC, Healthline
