homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Weekend


Subscriber content preview

May 20, 2011

Strange But True!

Q. What are the riskiest “kisses” of them all? Fortunately, these are probably unfamiliar to most readers.

A. The recent rise of interest in vampires, particularly among teens, has brought to the fore the practice of biting another person to draw blood, says Sheril Kirshenbaum in “The Science of Kissing.” “Just don't do it,” she cautions. Swapping saliva through trading kisses is vastly safer than injecting gobs of potentially dangerous microorganisms into the bloodstream of your beloved — a bad way to show someone you care. Many of the germs in our mouths are harmless until they break the skin barrier. In fact, doctors consider the human bite to be of greater concern than most snake bites or broken bones and often send human bite victims straight to the emergency room.


 
. . .


To read this story in full login or purchase a subscription.



Previous columns:



Email or user name:
Password:
 
Forgot password? Click here.