Is It Really That Bad To Share Drinks? Here’s What Doctors Say.

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.

Pritt explained that any situation that involves communal living (like college or military barracks) makes it easier to catch illnesses transmitted through air droplets from an infected person, such as meningitis. Living in close contact with other people combined with certain behaviors (like sharing foods and drinks) makes college students especially vulnerable to meningitis . “This is why teens are recommended to get the