British Olympics Handshake Kerfuffle

Dr. Ian McCurdie, the British Olympic Association's chief medical officer warned his athletes to avoid handshakes this summer or they might pick up germs, according to a recent AP story. In response the Department of Health said: "It goes without saying that we should all wash our hands regularly to keep them clean and prevent spreading bugs, but there's no reason why people shouldn't shake hands at the Olympics." The best take on this probably came via Twitter when Olympic champion rower Zac Purchase said it's a "bit pointless unless u r going to run around with disinfectant 4 every surface you come into contact with."

This is serious business.  In 2008, Great Britain came in 4th in overall medal count, a scant 26 medals behind Russia.  From what I can tell, the only thing that held them back was a spike in transient infections!

We've posted on this sort of thing before where a study last year found the risk was 0.019 bacterial pathogens acquired per handshake during a commencement; although, it's viruses that we most worry about. Of course, if you don't want to shake someone's hand there are other greeting options:

3/7 Update:  Another nice opinion is available here, and the ban has officially been lifted.