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ThinkingKitten -> RE: Full human toilet?? (7/29/2006 5:55:03 PM)
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An interesting thread, indeed.....
I feel the need to be a "safety policeperson", I'm afraid. But then again this is the health and safety forum....
"Shit contains red blood cells" (or words to that effect from much earlier posts).
In a healthy individual without any kind of gastrointestinal bleed (due to cancer or ulcers for example) - no. Dead and dyeing rbc's are quickly and efficiently removed from the circulation by the spleen as most of the contents are recycled by the body. If they weren't then we would have all learnt how to intake and digest compounds containing vastly greater quantities of iron. Pigments derived from the breakdown of rbc's are secreted into the intestine via bile (and also filtered by the kidneys, which gives urine its color). These pigments are what give feces their color.
Bleeding hemorrhoids (internal) or ulcerous lesions on the lining of the intestine will release blood into the stool, and give rise to the possibility of transmission of viral problems (HIV, Hep etc). Folks may have these lesions and not be aware of them, as the quantity of blood released can be very small and therefore not detectable by normal layman investigation. If you want to be reasonably sure, then you usually need three consecutively negative occult blood checks done via your doc and a reputable lab. And a colonoscopy helps as well....
Yeah to Mr. Warren a while back, for citing the case of Typhoid Mary. I could also pass on the name of a university researcher who deliberately infected himself with Giardia, got horribly sick (as anticipated), but then failed to show symptoms on taking further infective doses. He was trying to prove that a carrier state exists.....
Community acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Check out http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca.html (nb. MRSA likes to hang out in the rectal area, even in healthy individuals, waiting for an opportunity.....)
Pinworm infections: does your Dom/me have an itchy asshole, particularly at night?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/pinworm/factsht_pinworm.htm
What else? Oh yes, drug resistant Clostridium difficile. If your partner passes this onto you, then pray you don't end up hospitalised for something unrelated, and on antibiotics......
http://www.tufts.edu/med/apua/News/staffbriefing/congbriefingkyed4-1-1pc.pdf
I could go on, but thats more than enough to bore most I suspect.
Coprophagy in horses is due to a vitamin B (usually B1) deficiency, and/or lack of dietary fibre. So humans are certainly not unique (mind you, ask any dog owner!!).
And (off topic), someone asked about homosexuality in other species. Its been observed in the ape species called bonobos, and also in dolphins.....
Forewarned, is forearmed, as they say.....
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