How disgusting is not being able to wipe your butt after shitting
Are you going to say you never wondered when the toilet paper ran out?
And then you're at that typical summer festival in your town. The sun shines and a reggae band plays that soft sound to the crowd as you go out to buy another round of beer in plastic cups for your friends. Nothing could ruin this wonderful moment ... But her gut begins to roar intensely.
Ambm Portable Bidet Shower, Travel Bidets Bottle For Hand Bidet Using 600Ml
It seems that the combination of beer, hot dog and some suspicious snacks you bought at the food stall wants to leave. You stay four minutes waiting in line for the chemical toilets, and when you can get into one of them, close the door, sit back and shit. You enjoy a brief moment of relief until you realize, horrified, that you have no toilet paper. Holy shit! It's real.
You have no other choice but to put your pants on and go back to your friends, with the shame of knowing you have not completed one of the basic protocol steps you were taught when you were four.
What harm does it not make?
One gram of feces may contain some 10 million viruses, one million distinct bacteria, one thousand membranous pouches of parasites and one hundred eggs of worms, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. And now you're walking around with all those possible threats stuck in the ass and separated from the rest of the world by just a thin layer of synthetic fiber and another layer of cotton.
"It's absolutely unacceptable to be hygienic," says Aaron Glatt, a professor of medicine at South Nassau Communities Hospital and a spokeswoman for the American Society for Infectious Diseases. "Find something to clean yourself," he pleads. or leaves of plants, whatever. "
The risk is higher for women. In that case, the dirty anus is dangerously close to the vagina, which can cause bacteria to enter the urethra and cause an infection
The situation may worsen depending on the type of dirt, adds Philip M. Tierno, a professor of Microbiology and Pathology at NYU Medical School. "If they are released, the particles can disperse even more," says Tierno. And so the liquid stool would be impregnated in the clothing and exceed the barrier of pants and underwear much more easily.
The risk is higher for women. In that case, the dirty anus is dangerously close to the vagina, which can cause bacteria to enter the urethra and cause a urinary tract infection.
That's one of the reasons why Tierno recommends that when there is a possibility that we should use a bathroom in poor conditions, we should carry at least one packet of tissues and an alcohol-based disinfectant. We have to be warned if we are going to a festival, or the place in the middle of nature or make a stop on a road in the middle of nowhere.
What's in the feces?
Stool is waste from the body because all the infectious diseases and bacteria that are inhabiting our body "pack" in the stool before being expelled. Bacteria such as E. coli, or Escherichia, the parasites that cause diarrhea, and other germs whose effects can range from uncomfortable to deadly spread through excrement. Norovirus, which in countries like the US is one of the leading causes of illnesses caused by eating spoiled food, is also lodged in our gut.
It may be helpful to know that you may consider yourself lucky if in the near future you have access to a crouching hole and a shower.
"Four out of ten people in the world do not have access to a latrine, a toilet, a bucket or a box. Anything"
In her 2008 book, The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters, journalist Rose George cites UN statistics that say 2.6 million people in the world do not have access to a sanitation system. "And I'm not saying that they do not have a toilet at home and have to use a public or separate from the house or even a precarious hut with a primitive fault," he says.
What George means is that "four out of ten people do not have access to a latrine, a toilet, a bucket or a box. Anything. Instead, they are forced to defecate on railroad tracks or in some grove or in plastic bags that are then discarded in some alley. "
The public health problems arising from the lack of a basic sanitation system and the incorrect disposal of waste can be truly alarming. Lack of hygiene and water contamination are often the cause of one in every ten diseases in the world, according to WHO researchers.
Although this dirt poses very serious risks, our immune systems are constantly battling an enormous amount of germs of lower levels spread by fecal particles and, in general, they are victorious.
So, although it is good to worry when you do not have toilet paper to clean, thankfully and thanks to the way our body fights the fecal germs, this ends up being more of a nuisance than a true risk factor, according to Tierno.
How widespread are fecal particles?
"As a society, we swim in feces," says Tierno. "People do not wash their hands well, even when they have access to a lavatory, so they end up spreading the fine particles through the rest of the body."
A simple Google search reveals that it is quite common to find fecal matter in objects such as yoga mats, coffee cups, or kitchen forks. As was said once in an old book, everyone defecates, creating a certain degree of bacterial discomfort that societies and individuals are able to combat with greater or lesser success.
That means walking around without having cleansed your butt is only one level of discomfort above having to put up with the fecal load that lurks in your hands and on the surfaces you lean on daily.
A small amount of feces attached to the body simply intensifies this fight, but the guarantees of success are present anyway
"Obviously, it will irritate that person," notes Tierno. Without many problems, it is a "mild" discomfort in terms of public health. In the developed world, our body is constantly fighting germs and micro-organisms successfully. A small amount of feces stuck to the body simply intensifies this fight, but the guarantees of success are present anyway.
On the other hand, the odds of contracting E. coli or norovirus by contact with fecal material in a public event are even lower, because "sick people stay at home," says Tierno.
So, even if it is not really good to spend a few hours with the dirty low parts, the safest thing is that no time passes. When you have the opportunity, clean well and that's it.