LETTER
More on the Common Communion Cup
Maureen Brady Moran
1 October 1993 | Volume 119 Issue 7 Part 1 | Page 638
TO THE EDITOR:
Furlow and Dougherty [1] cite Gill [2] as having reported that intinction may cause the transmission of saliva between communicants. I could find no mention of such a risk in Gill's review. Furthermore, Furlow and Dougherty have not advanced our knowledge on the subject of the common communion cup; that is, they have not shown that the bacteria present on the communion cup caused inoculation, infection, or an episode of disease. They provide no new evidence to refute Gill's assertion that "currently available data do not provide any support for suggesting that the practice of sharing a common communion cup should be abandoned because it might spread infection".
1. Furlow TG, Dougherty MJ. 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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