© Longview News-Journal
Reprinted by permission
12-07-02

Sharing more than communion

Churches breeding grounds for catching germs

By ROBIN GALIANO, Staff writer

When Mama told you to always wash your hands before eating, she likely wasn't thinking about church. But as an adult who knows that the most common way to transmit a virus is by hand or mouth, some worship rituals might give you pause. Especially during flu season.

Take the communion cup used in Anglican and Catholic churches, for instance. After parishioners shake hands during the sign of peace greeting, many take communion in the hand, place it in their mouth and then drink from a common cup.

Just about the perfect prescription for spreading germs, health experts say. It's not just worshipers in high-liturgical churches that are at risk.

Even Protestant churches that use tiny individual communion cups still have a set time for hand-shaking greetings or a traditional sign of peace.

"Someone will cover their mouth when they sneeze and then warmly reach over to shake your hand. Then it's off to the races for influenza viruses," said Dr. Michael J. Borucki, associate professor of medicine in the Infectious Disease Department at the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler.

Doctors say transmission of flu or cold viruses most often occurs when hands that have been in contact with germs end up touching the mouth or eye. Not to mention the dangers of air-borne droplets of respiratory secretion that take flight during sneezing, coughing, talking or even just singing in large groups.

"It happens in the huddling of the masses. Obviously a church is one of those places. It's a perfect environment for influenza to be transmitted," Borucki said.

It's not just the larger droplets you can feel when someone at church sneezes behind you, but also the invisible respiratory residue that can land up to six feet away. There's no getting around it. Churches are a prime breeding ground for shared germs.

Still, most church folks seem not to worry. And data from the federal Centers for Disease Control would seem to support their lack of concern.

The risk is minimal, says the CDC, for getting an infectious disease from drinking from a common communion cup. And while the CDC has concluded there is a ‘‘theoretic risk,’’ there is no documented case of any infectious disease having been transmitted through use of a common communion cup.

Divine protection or insufficient research?

Borucki says no one has conducted an in-depth study of whether germs are spread at a typical church service. For one thing, it's extremely difficult to obtain nasopharynx cultures during a viral outbreak, then track the cases with follow-up. Such a culture is physically uncomfortable, and is taken through the nasal passage and down into the soft palate region of the throat. And getting individuals to return for follow-up tests is nearly impossible when trying to track a whole congregation.

"The risks are unknown. It's never been studied. Rationally though, because influenza has such a high attack rate, you'd expect direct contact with infected saliva would result in further infection," he said. Area pastors are not especially concerned, given anecdotal evidence that says church-goers are not any more susceptible to illness than those who stay home.

Jeff Richardson, minister of music at St. Michael and All Angels' Episcopal Church, says fear of illness has not been an issue in his seven years there. About a quarter of the people who attend services bypass the common cup, he said. But most, he added, have no problem sharing.

"The people who are trained to serve the cup use a specific way to do it. Everybody doesn't just stick their lips on it and get a gulp," Richardson said.

Lay persons who handle the communion cups wipe the lip of the cup after each person takes a sip, then turn the cup a quarter turn so that the next person doesn't touch the same place immediately after. And the alcohol in the wine helps kill germs, Richardson added.

Borucki agreed, to a point.

"Alcohol is a pretty good germicidal agent," he said. "The deal, though, is they don't wipe the cup with alcohol."

Health experts advise those who are sniffling or sneezing to bypass the common cup to protect their fellow worshipers. Besides the threat of cold and flu, parishioners are vulnerable to strep germ and cold-sore viruses, Borucki said. And there are more serious concerns as well.

A church in Arlington temporarily withheld offering the communion cup in January after a female church member died of an infection from the bacteria that causes meningitis. The pastor said he wanted to ease people's fears, though the chances were slim that others would contract the bacteria from the communion cup she used just two days before she died.

There are other options besides sharing a common cup. Roman Catholics can receive only the communion host by having it placed directly on their tongues.

The Rev. Gavin Vaverek of St. Mary's Catholic Church said he tells parishioners they are not required to drink from the cup. It's only been since the Second Vatical Council, he added, that Catholics have been encouraged to use wine and wafer to enhance their worship experience. "The host alone is still the risen Lord Jesus," Vaverek said.

Roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine of communion become the body and blood of Jesus Christ during the consecration of the liturgy. For that reason, priests and communion servers consume the contents of the cup rather than disposing of it after worshipers have partaken.

But the physical properties of the wine remain the same, and there is no miraculous protection from infection just because Catholic communicants believe the wine becomes the blood of Christ, Vaverek said.

"We're not magicians here. I've been places where they've stopped the cup when there's an outbreak of adult flu," Vaverek said, adding he has no problem consuming what's left in the cup.

Some churches also allow intinction, or dipping the bread or wafer into the wine instead of sipping from a cup. That's the practice Borucki recommends.

A Roman Catholic himself, Borucki said he bypasses the common cup when he attends Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tyler.

"This time of year, I'm just inclined to take the host and keep walking," he said. "It's not been proven, but it sure is suspect."

Robin Galiano can be contacted at rgaliano@coxnews.com.