LETTER
More on the Common Communion Cup
Gregory L. Sheehy
1 October 1993 | Volume 119 Issue 7 Part 1 | Page 638
TO THE EDITOR:
The letter by Furlow and Dougherty [1] about the common communion cup needs comment, given the media attention it has received. The presence of bacteria on the common cup has been established previously, albeit not necessarily after a Eucharistic service. No study, however, including theirs, has shown transmission of these organisms from one communicant to another. More important, I can find no evidence after searching the literature that establishes inoculation and infection through this religious custom. As outlined by Gill in his exhaustive 1988 review [2], "Disease attributable to the shared common communion cup has never been reported".
1. Furlow TG, Dougherty MS. Bacteria on the common communion cup (Letter). Ann Intern Med. 1993; 118:572-3.
2. Gill ON. The hazard of infection from the shared communion cup. J Infect. 1988; 16:3-23.
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