Re: Harp as disease vector/ question

["Eliot Williams" <WILLIAMS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From:          Bill Long <LONGWJ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

> I don't think you pose much of a threat to yourself, but if you're sharing
> your harp with someone who has a cold (or if you have a cold) there's a
> possibility that the virus may survive in a warm, recently played harp.
>
> I also play trumpet and had a nick on my mouthpiece.  I sanded the rim down
> and polished it smooth, but I had to go through the plating to finally work
> the nick out.  Underneath the plating the mouthpiece is made of brass.
> Another trumpet player told me this was not a good idea as there is some
> sort of disease you can pick up from the brass.  I never heard of anything
> like this before...any one out there in Harp land ever heard of this?

It is an unqualifiedly bad idea to share harps with someone else
unless you know a whole lot about their medical history.  As far as
brass-related disease goes, about the only thing I can think of that
you could get from repeatedly mouthing something made of brass would
be copper poisoning, but this would be pretty unlikely in the
scenario you describe.  EW

Eliot C. Williams
University of Wisconsin Medical School
ecwillms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx