If one of the parishioners sipping before you has streptococcus, you have a slight chance of picking up his sore throat, Eickhoff says. The alcohol in the wine kills most germs, so there's little worry here. But if you catch strep throat often, ask the priest or the minister to dip the wafer in the wine. Many of the people who dig their fingers into the peanut bowl have come straight from the toilet and haven't washed up. There's only a tiny chance that nut-bowl bacteria will give you diarrhea, but those odds go up slightly if you take an antacid after dinner.
Antacids reduce the stomach acids that kill bacteria.
In the off-chance these bugs make it to your stomach, diarrhea could strike for up to a week. So keep your mouth closed underwater. When you reposition the laughing skeleton, wear a dishwashing glove. Use a net to retrieve the wedding ring. As at the diner, says Gerba, the filthy cleanup rag harbors diarrhea-causing microbes.