Thursday, August 28, 2008
Most people don’t go around picking up dirty things off the floor and plopping them into their can of soda or glass of milk. But on many nights, college students do just that: They pick up beer pong balls from the floor and throw them into each other’s cups of beer.
What pongers don’t realize is that they are exposing themselves to harmful, or even deadly, bacteria.
Jan Hudzicki, clinical assistant professor at KU Medical Center, says the three biggest infection risks from beer pong are strep throat, pneumonia and meningitis, which is potentially fatal and can be contracted by sharing beer cups. Hudzicki says there is also bacteria and fungus living on the floor where a ball lands after a missed shot.
A common excuse students use is that the alcohol in beer kills any lurking germs. But Hudzicki says this simply isn’t the case. Alcohol in its purest form takes up to 20 seconds to kill bacteria. The alcohol content in beer is greatly reduced, and we all know there isn’t enough time during an intense beer pong match to wait for all the germs to die.
Another myth students believe is that rinsing the balls off in a water cup will kill any germs. This does no good, however, because the beer in the playing cups is what’s contaminated. Hudzicki says students’ best bet is to use Clorox disinfecting wipes to clean the balls after they hit the floor. This will reduce—but will not eliminate—the chance for infection.
Hudzicki also suggests pouring the beer from the cup on the table into your own separate cup before drinking it, which keeps players from drinking from the same cup after each other.
Now get out those wipeys and get your game on!
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