LATVIA: Letts v. Kisses

Last week the Latvian Ministry of Public Welfare set out to prevent the spread of tuberculosis by warning the population with posters: DO NOT LET YOURSELF BE KISSED; DO NOT KISS AN OTHER'S HAND. Officials entrusted with putting the admonition into effect had a job on their hands. Although the incidence of Latvian tuberculosis is high (tubercular death rate in the capital, Riga, is 120 per 100,000), the incidence of Latvian hand-kissing is much higher.

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