All of the bacteria that was discovered had the same potential effects - most would result in flu-like symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and possibly fever that could keep you in bed for days, Heffner and Morrissey said. The water cup was the by far the most bacteria-infested, and had the largest growth of bacteria in its test tube, they said.
"There would be no long-term effects if you were to get sick from playing, just a bacterial infection that can be treated with antibiotics," Heffner said.
However, they said that being infected by the bacteria is a matter of chance - it depends on the environment that the bacteria is grown in and a healthy person is less likely to get sick than someone who isn't healthy. In their experiment game, no one developed any flu-like symptoms afterwards.
"It all depends on the situation," Morrissey said. "If you haven't been eating well, your immune system would be more susceptible, for example, or in situations where you're more tired, there is more of a chance that you could get sick."
However, Heffner and Morrissey said that their goal isn't to discourage college students from playing beer pong. "Obviously we're not being very serious about this. Keep playing but beware of the risks," Heffner said.
But they did offer some advice for the health-conscious beer-ponger - in order to minimize the amount of bacteria involved in the game, the more you change the water cup, the better. Also, they suggested players have their own drinking cup and pour their beer from the game cup into there so they aren't sharing with other people.
"There is no reason our report should prevent you from getting drunk," Morrissey said. "But we're happy to be breaking ground in the evolutionary field of drinking game biology."
"There would be no long-term effects if you were to get sick from playing, just a bacterial infection that can be treated with antibiotics," Heffner said.
However, they said that being infected by the bacteria is a matter of chance - it depends on the environment that the bacteria is grown in and a healthy person is less likely to get sick than someone who isn't healthy. In their experiment game, no one developed any flu-like symptoms afterwards.
"It all depends on the situation," Morrissey said. "If you haven't been eating well, your immune system would be more susceptible, for example, or in situations where you're more tired, there is more of a chance that you could get sick."
However, Heffner and Morrissey said that their goal isn't to discourage college students from playing beer pong. "Obviously we're not being very serious about this. Keep playing but beware of the risks," Heffner said.
But they did offer some advice for the health-conscious beer-ponger - in order to minimize the amount of bacteria involved in the game, the more you change the water cup, the better. Also, they suggested players have their own drinking cup and pour their beer from the game cup into there so they aren't sharing with other people.
"There is no reason our report should prevent you from getting drunk," Morrissey said. "But we're happy to be breaking ground in the evolutionary field of drinking game biology."
