A fist bump a day keeps the doctor away?
A new study on bacterial transfer via common hand greetings found that the fist bump is a cleaner alternative to the standard handshake or high five.
Dr. Dave Whitworth of Wales' Aberystwyth University and a PhD student dipped their gloved hands in an E. coli solution and then tested all three common greetings. The results: A handshake transferred a high rate of bugs, while a high five passed along only about half as many. A fist bump, though, transferred fully 90 percent fewer bugs than did the handshake.
"The hygienic nature of the fist bump may be due in part to its speed (typically much quicker than a first-rate handshake) but also because there is a smaller area involved," the university explained.