Can the Bible Cause Infection?

British doctors are facing a media firestorm against the Gideons, after suggesting that Bibles be removed from all hospital rooms. "Why?" you ask. "Because they are anti-religious activists?!" Nope. Because they think they may have identified a case where MRSA (more commonly known as "staph infection") was passed from patient to patient by a Gideon's Bible. But fear not, despite some early scare mongering by the tabloids, there is no risk of the Gideons being thrown out.

Transmission of MRSA from a book or other inanimate object is "theoretically possible," said Dr. William Jarvis, M.D., president of the research foundation of the Washington-based Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
"Has it ever been documented? No."
A variety of objects in hospitals -- doctor's ties, stethoscopes, and doorknobs, for instance -- have been found to be tainted with MRSA, Dr. Jarvis said. "All of these inanimate objects are very, very unlikely to pose a risk to patients," he added.
"The major route of transmission of MRSA is health-care workers' hands," he said, and if doctors and nurses practise proper hygiene, even Bible-borne MRSA doesn't have a prayer.

One British hospital even has a solution that the Gideons are likely to welcome with open arms. They want to send a Bible home with every patient. Now that is a way to raise Bible literacy!