Veterinary Public Health Journal | Issue #17
Namaste:An Etiquette for Disease Control
35
Travel patterns and ages of exploration refer to period between 15th to 17th centuries. A new height was gained by technological advancement along with new products and new discoveries of land around the world.During this time, different people from societies around the globe began to integrate that resulted emergence of new diseases. The Earth is now a global village. We can travel from Australia to Ireland which is 9680 miles apart in 17.29 hours. Land, sea and air transport routes and networks are expanding day by day. Number of passengers and amount of goods that are being transported from place to place is increasing. With this the pathogens and their vectors are moving in large number further faster than ever. Global travel has resulted more new diseases than ever before in last five centuries before becoming potential pandemics. Human mobility has increased by 1000 fold in high income countries since 1880 (Wilson,1995, 2003).As world economy continues to grow aviation in particular has expanded. Global passenger number has grown by nearly 9% per annum since 1960. Moving from place to place makes people meet new people. Meeting someone after long time or in a new place with different situation compels a person to show respect towards the next person. We generally show respect and generate a level of etiquette to greet other people. There’s an amazing diversity of greetings customs around the world. In Tibet sticking out your tongue can be way of welcoming people. In some part of New Zealand, Mori greet each other by touching noses. In most of the western countries including Europe, people hug or kiss on cheek as their norms. It depends upon religion, culture and ethnicity. But, it all comes to handshaking habit of human beings in case of greetings. We often do handshakes while meeting other people. It’s considered as a gesture of peace. From life of a normal VetPubHealth Journal ISSUE 17
i r a k i h d A Aashish
person to a high diplomatic person, handshake is very popular. We students go to college and hand shake, a leader from one country visits another country, meets some leaders and shakes hand with them during a formal meet. A celebrity attends a ceremony, meets other celebrities of his kind and shakes hand. In fact handshake is everywhere, from our home to school, college, offices, ceremonies, etc. It’s so ubiquitous that you may never have thought about why people shake hands. The history of the handshake dates back to the 5th century B.C in Greece. It was a symbol of peace, showing that neither person was carrying a weapon. During the Roman era, handshake was actually more of an arm grab. It involved grabbing each other’s forearms to check that neither man had a knife hidden up his sleeve. Some say that the shaking gesture of the handshake started in Medieval Europe. Knights would shake the hand of others in an attempt to shake loose any hidden weapons. But with the gradual change in the modern times, this culture is considered unsafe in case of hygiene. During handshake two persons grip each other’s palm accompanied by brief up and down movement, which develops direct contact between persons by the means of hand. According to several research studies, almost 80% of pathogens can transfer during a normal handshake from one person to another depending upon relative humidity. The number of microorganisms on intact areas of skin in the same person can vary from 100-
IVSA Standing Committe on One Health
April 2020
