Disease transfer and the Chalice?

Yes there has. Here's an article that describes one: http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/01/local/me-b...

"People who sip from the Communion cup don't get sick more often than anyone else," said Anne LaGrange Loving, a New Jersey microbiologist who has conducted one of the few studies on the subject. "It isn't any riskier than standing in line at the movies."...

Loving, the microbiologist, said the risk of infection is reduced because the chalice is wiped after each sip, the alcohol in the wine can kill germs and, unlike ceramic cups, the silver and gold used in most chalices don't harbor microbes.

"There is a difference sipping from a Communion cup and sipping a cup of coffee that someone left on the curb," she said.

Loving, a community college professor and Episcopalian, decided to undertake in 1995 the first of two studies because "I'm a microbiologist and attend church. I had some concerns about what goes on at the Communion rail."

Her first study, conducted in a laboratory, investigated whether germs were transferred to the wine during intinction, or the dipping of the bread or wafer into the wine that's done in some churches.

Participants were asked not to wash their hands before the tests and to shake hands with two to 10 others in the study, as they would during a service's "passing of the peace."

Loving found some bacteria had been transferred to the wine and that the microbes would then be absorbed by the bread.

But next she wanted to find out whether illnesses were caused by Communion. In 1997, she surveyed 681 people in New Jersey over a 10-week period and found no difference in illness rates among those who attended church and received Communion, those who attended church and didn't receive Communion, and those who never attended church.

"This even held true for the participants who attended church and received the sacraments every single day during the 10 weeks," she wrote.

Our church does not offer the wine. We just take the bread.

Common sense dictates that we be cautious due to HIV. TB or other communicable diseases. But I do participate in the wine n other churches if any. It's pretty safe.