Go ahead: Touch it, hug it, give it a big wet kiss.

The Stanley Cup isn't the germ bomb you might suspect.

The NHL champion Blackhawks' beloved trophy stopped by the Chicago Tribune newsroom Thursday, and so we took the opportunity to do something the Cup's keeper said had never been done: We swabbed it for germs.

We sent the samples to the Chicago lab EMSL Analytical, which found very little general bacteria and no signs of staph, salmonella or E. coli.

"It's surprisingly clean," lab manager Nancy McDonald said.

Just 400 counts of general bacteria were found, she said. By comparison, a desk in an office typically has more than 10,000.

"I think that's great," said a somewhat relieved Philip Pritchard, keeper of the Cup and curator of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Every day, he said, the Cup is washed with a soft detergent. Twice a year it's taken apart and professionally cleaned with a high-end silver polish.

When the Cup is on tour, more than 5,000 people touch or kiss it a day, Pritchard said. Tales of far worse activities over the years are legendary, though unconfirmed by the alleged perpetrators.

While some people won't kiss it for fear of germs, most "don't think twice about it," Pritchard said. "But we can reassure them they are going to be OK."

sroe@tribune.com