WASHINGTON 鈥� What could ruin a perfectly delicious birthday cake?
How about germs?
found that blowing out candles over the icing surface resulted in 1,400 percent more bacteria compared to icing on a cake where no one blew out the candles.
Biological aerosols in the breath that is expelled from the mouth may be a source of bacteria.
So, when a person forcibly exhales, as with blowing out candles or sneezing, bacterial or viral particles in the respiratory tract could also be coming out.
The study cited some bacteria and viruses commonly found in respiratory aerosol, which include Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Corynebacterium (which can cause diphtheria), Hemophilus (which can cause influenza), and Neisseria (which can cause meningitis).
Clemson University professor Paul Dawson, one of the authors of the study, that festivities do not have to be ruined by someone鈥檚 germy breath on a birthday cake.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a big health concern in my perspective,鈥� Dawson said.
Mouths are normally full of bacteria, most of which aren鈥檛 harmful. However, he did say that he would probably avoid the cake if the candle-blower was clearly sick.
Perhaps one way to avoid the socially awkward situation of refusing cake because someone blew out the candles and you鈥檙e worried about germs is to have a separate cake for blowing out the candles, similarly to smash cakes for babies.
Or, maybe, just eat the cake.
