Why do we get all shook up about contagious diseases?

Epidemics are not to be taken lightly, but Rym Ghazal wonders whether we sometimes overreact to them.

Health workers wearing protective clothing prepare to carry an abandoned dead body with Ebola symptoms in Monrovia . Reuters / 2Tango

When a friend arrived back from a work assignment in Nigeria, I found myself doing a “Hey, how are you?” greeting from arm’s-length, waving my hand in the air in an almost-exaggerated way.

But then she extended her hand for a handshake. I paused, looked at her hand, and then found myself doing my notorious “elbow shake” that shows up whenever a new deadly disease makes the rounds.

The look on her face was of shock. But the look on the faces of passersby who saw her shaking my elbow, well, that was priceless.

My friend burst out laughing at my behaviour, then admitted: “Yeah, I didn’t shake hands or touch anyone when I was there. I was so paranoid.”

She wore a face mask and gloves most of the time. When forced to shake hands, she did so while wearing the gloves. She said it offended some people, but they understood why she was being cautious.

The World Health Organisation reported that, as of August 16, the number of Ebola cases was 2,240 with 1,229 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In the current outbreak in West Africa, most cases occurred as a result of human-to-human transmission.

In general, I am not a big fan of handshakes – even though they have an interesting history.

The tradition is said to go as far back as the ancient Greeks and Assyrians. The Prophet Mohammed also shook hands, and within Arab tradition there are extensions to this, such as a kiss to the cheek or, among Gulf Arabs, a “nose kiss” or rub. The handshake became a gesture of peace by demonstrating that the hand held no weapons.

Today, given the diseases that are making headlines, including the Mers coronavirus and Ebola, and information out there about how they get transmitted via “bodily fluids” it is understandable to think that the sweat in the palm of a person’s hands may carry hidden germs.

What if there is a cut? What if there is an infection? These thoughts inevitably get inside our minds as we read about these diseases claiming more victims.

Given that we are all connected via air travel, it is common for overreaction to set in whenever there is any kind of potential epidemic. A disease in one country rarely just stays there.

A photograph of signs put up in a restaurant in Seoul, South Korea, has gone viral on social media. The signs said: “We apologise, but due to ­Ebola virus, we are not accepting Africans at the moment.” The owner later replaced the signs with a letter. “I had no intention of being racist and I sincerely apologise,” he wrote, acknowledging that the previous signs were “horribly inappropriate, disrespectful [and] wildly selfish”.

A decade ago, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), which originated in southern China, infected more than 8,273 people worldwide, with 775 deaths. In Canada, where I was at the time, I remember that some people would move away in panic whenever someone who looked Chinese sneezed. In Toronto, we all walked around in face masks.

Diseases can also bring out dark humour. A car dealer in Saudi Arabia put up a large sign featuring a germ-like alien drawn next to the words: “We checked, our cars are 100 per cent Corona free.”

Of course, contagious illnesses should be taken seriously and precautions should be taken. In the past, people with illnesses would be cast out to an island or other difficult-to-reach area. Some elders have told me that the currently popular Umm Suqeim district in Dubai was once the place where very ill people were put. Some believe that “suqeim” refered to some kind of ailment.

“If you had something that the traditional doctor couldn’t fix, you would end up in Umm Suqeim,” an Emirati sailor in his 70s told me.

Living in isolation does not work in the modern world, and an elbow shake isn’t the best way of dealing with an epidemic. Compassion for the afflicted and pushing pharmaceutical companies to find cures is the better way.

On Twitter:@Arabianmau