safety shields on busses

Yes I am well aware of hand shaking which is why I limit that sort of contact. Spit combined with sputum however, once it dries up, gets blown around and pathogens like TB can be spread. The spread of pathogens in the air is well-documented hence the programs in some Asian countries to curtail the culturally-ingrained public hawking and spitting....something I see a lot of on our streets.....disgusting.

It is also important to note that the people that resort to spitting are not the healthiest specimens out there. Some come from areas in Manitoba that have frequent occurrences of TB.

That said, I never attended meetings like that. Perhaps that is an ancient European meeting protocol?

grumpy old man wrote:It is also important to note that the people that resort to spitting are not the healthiest specimens out there. Some come from areas in Manitoba that have frequent occurrences of TB.

That said, I never attended meetings like that. Perhaps that is an ancient European meeting protocol?

Thank you for stating the above as that was what I was alluding to....I originally hail from the north but am thankfully resistant to the local TB strain. I do worry about spitting and other forms of viral spreads due to an immunity issue and unfortunately I can pinpoint the exact group of folks, ethnically-speaking, who indulge in this terrible habit moreso than other groups of folks.

Many times I have verbally chewed out youngsters in front of their parents for hawking and spitting right near me....some of these kids were from the rural, northern communities....some parents would get angry at me but when I would explain why this was a terrible thing to do they conceded and chewed the offenders out themselves.

I will not even enter bus shelters due to all the spit/sputum piles in them.....yes this is a disgusting sidebar here but it does justify the installation of shields if this is done to drivers on a routine basis.

BTW I will mention that I have witnessed folks of all backgrounds, rich or poor, whatever ethnicity, hawking and spitting but the one group of folks who suffer the highest rate of TB in Manitoba also over-indulge in hawking and spitting in public.

If i am wrong then someone please correct me as I do not wish to single out one group of folks here but based on my years of observation? I stand by what I say.

its wrong to spit in public? If not spit, whats the ground good for?

Use a schmatte to spit in.

The truth is the truth. We need to avoid being PC just to not offend someone (or some group) if they are behaving in wholly inappropriate behaviour. Be it spitting, knifing, shooting, killing infant children, whatever.

That extremely offensive behaviour needs to be severely curtailed poste haste.

I worry about this cold weather and the upcoming fall/winter flu season.....and it is this one particular group of folks who have been hit the hardest! I have caught many folks still not knowing how to properly cough or sneeze....they give you this dazed look and start cussing you out for correcting them so I just avoid human contact as much as possible....bicycles rule.

Buses I have not used since this past April and only then I used them twice.....such was my disgust at the behaviours of some of my fellow number 16'ers off and on the bus (one of the grottiest stops is across the street from Second Cup on Graham)......yeah, no sense in being PC......not when it is my health that could be jeopardized and in a potentially life-threatening way.

what if I am choking on my phlem it is so thick I can barely breath... is that okay to spit up?

If you have that sort of problem you should be carrying a schmatte (hanky or kleenex).....it is just good manners and health safety......I should not have to tell you this. I would assume that if you had that kind of problem that it would be a long term condition whereby you were prepared or if it were a flu condition or cold or allergy condition you would be at home resting and not spreading that shite around to the rest of us.

so.. just to be clear... no one anywhere around and I am walking down a sidewalk I can not under any circumstances spit on the road?

I cannot tell you what to do Dean.....just keep in mind that when your stuff dries up someone else may get the benefit of your expectorations blown into their face. I for one do not wish to be on the receiving end of anyone's dried spittle or any kind of spittle period. This goes beyond good manners, it is common sense and an excellent viral preventative.

oh...probably wouldn't like me then...I'm a spitter (not at people...just on the ground)

I don't know where those studies are about "dried spit"...it's been my experience that it evaporates faster than it "dries"...and a single rain fall wipes away most the problems.

Nature is a phenomenal filter...and cleans away trillions of diseases & infections.

While I certainly don't want someone to spit on me, or on my shoe...it's not going to kill me...I have more important things to think about.

On another note...MizP...you actually "correct" people for not coughing/sneezing properly? Until last year...I had never heard of "coughing in your elbow"...and I thought it was one of the dumbest things I've heard.

When I wash my hands...I generally (nor does anyone I know) wash up to my elbow...so when I cough in my elbow (or sneeze)...whatever I put there...stays there...all day...till I take my shirt off, and/or take a shower.

I was always taught to cough/sneeze in my hand(s)...and then wash them/sterilize them as soon as possible after.

Miz point wrote:This goes beyond good manners, it is common sense

I have heard this phrase so much of the last couple of days...and it's really offensive.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS COMMON SENSE!!!

If there was...we'd have nothing to discuss .

"I was always taught to cough/sneeze in my hand(s)...and then wash them/sterilize them as soon as possible after."

yeah they rethought that little doozy when they figured out that to get to a sink or turn a sink on you probably have to touch something. like a doorknob or a faucet.

Miz point wrote:I cannot tell you what to do Dean.....just keep in mind that when your stuff dries up someone else may get the benefit of your expectorations blown into their face. I for one do not wish to be on the receiving end of anyone's dried spittle or any kind of spittle period. This goes beyond good manners, it is common sense and an excellent viral preventative.

The bird poop on the ground is going to transmit diseases farther and faster then my little bit of spit.

My father had TB when I was a teenager and my mom in law was a Teaching Nurse at St.Paul's hospital in Vancouver and way up north here in Manitoba....I have traveled to countries where TB, more virulent strains as well as more exotic flu strains have been prevalent and have thus been witness to the various educational campaigns launched with regards to proper expectorating and sneezing/coughing/washing precautions. If I get the flu, just the regular flu, I cannot walk nor barely function....it hits me fast, hard and as such I need a helper around me for that 24 to 48 hours.....otherwise I am a fairly robust human as those who have personally met me can attest to.

My immune system is overactive and it attacks me in ways that - well....some days are better than others. I have many good reasons to be overly cautious. I had the flu five times in three months back in early 2008 when I was down in Mexico and Belize and thankfully, each time it happened, I had company.

As to bird shite, I avoid it....I try to walk around areas where there is lots of it like the underpasses....I cycle thru very quickly.....I also avoid enclosed spaces where I may be exposed to other agents that may affect me.

but did you get sick from rolling around the ground in someones spit? or from spit or other ways that were not on the ground?

do you have access to any reports at all about dried spittle blowing in the wind to spread disease? This is the first I have heard of this so I would like some information

This is what my Mother in Law taught me and she is a very wise and well-educated, researched woman. I trust her opinions as she has never been wont to speculate, being in the sciences, nor espouse any ridiculous notions. Dean, spitting and hawking is terrible from many standpoints.

Here Dean is what I got from googling in the phrase "dangers of spitting".......

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F05E1D61330E132A25756C0A9629C946097D6CF

and something more recent....

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Spitting#2.

LOL that first article is from 1901!

I know.....damned good article in that it brings up points that are discussed to this very day with regards to TB and other respiratory infections.....note the words on crowding, insanitary conditions and crud getting dragged on skirts and shoes....now one could switch skirts for the baggy saggy pants that are in favour with some folks....the information is not outdated nor certain sentiments outmoded.

Miz point wrote:Here Dean is what I got from googling in the phrase "dangers of spitting".......

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F05E1D61330E132A25756C0A9629C946097D6CF

and something more recent....

[url=http://wapedia.mobi/en/Spitting#2.

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Spitting#2.[/quote[/url]]

so nothing about dried spit then?

» What is airborne transmission?


Airborne transmission refers to situations where droplet
nuclei (residue from evaporated droplets) or dust particles containing
microorganisms can remain suspended in air for long periods of
time. These organisms must be capable of surviving for long periods
of time outside the body and must be resistant to drying. Airborne
transmission allows organisms to enter the upper and lower respiratory
tracts. Fortunately, only a limited number of diseases are capable
of airborne transmission.
Diseases capable of airborne transmission include:

• Influenza
  
• Whooping cough
  
• Pneumonia
  
• Tuberculosis
  
• Polio
  

http://microbiology.mtsinai.on.ca/faq/transmission.shtml#five

yeah .. that refers to the very tiny droplets that are expelled when sneezing.

Spitting can have the same effects.....spittle does not necessarily follow a clean trajectory. Say what you like, it is disgusting and potentially dangerous.

breathing is far more dangerous simply because it happens more often.