Emerg Infect DisEIDEmerging Infectious Diseases1080-60401080-6059Centers for Disease Control and Prevention260026607-5200810.3201/eid1405.52008Another DimensionBedtime at Nana and Pop’s HouseShumanStan52008145868868Requires a hug and a kissFrom the two year oldIn Mickey Mouse pajamas,Climbing on my lap,Interrupting the crime-news on T.V.,Smack! a kiss on the left ear,Smack! a kiss on the right,"Eye, eye," the imp insists,(Thank goodness for eyeglasses)"Nose, nose," comes the next command.I panic (what to do?!)This adorable, cute, bright, affectionate kid,My own grandchild,Heading for the lips, now!(What a strange ritualThe young parents have invented)All I can think of, are GERMS:Giardia, Hemophilus, E. coli,Strep, Staph, and Pneumo,A host of enterorespiratory virusesMultiplying on this adorable child’s pinkMucous membranes, fingertips,His droplets and aerosols a sea of microbes.I suddenly thrust himAt arm’s length, crown himWith a kiss on the curlsOf the cranium, bloA few more long-distancKisses as I hand himTo his mother(Before any more infestationcan occur).I return to the gloomy T.V.,Wondering what the incubationPeriods are for the most likelyForms of gastroenteritis, hepatitis,Pink eye, U.R.I. andBronchopneumonia.How fortunate the non-medicalParents and co-grandparents,Who hug, hug; kiss, kissWithout worry or care!
Stan Schuman is professor emeritus at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA, and founding editor of the Journal of Agromedicine (Haworth Medical Press, New York, 1974).