Dear Lucy: I read an article about bird flu, in which a scientist noted that putting one’s hand in bird excrement would be one way of contracting the disease. He seemed to scoff at the idea of anyone actually doing that, but another recent article in the same paper reported that many local playing fields are covered in goose doo. And, just the other day, while eating a salad at one of the tables outside the Student Center, I caught myself picking up a piece of lettuce that had blown onto the grated table top and eating it. As I did, I noticed that the lettuce had picked up some residue of what may well have been bird droppings. (Yeah, not too smart, but it was done without thinking.)
Anyway, lots of people eat outside at the Institute, and lots of us play sports, or have kids who play sports, on outside fields also used by geese. So how concerned should we really be about this mode of transmission? —Doos And Don’ts
