Wednesday, January 11, 2012

When feces completely dries out does it lose it's infectious and bacterial nature?

Certainly not. Some bacteria can live on "dried out" feces for months. Just as you can get bacteria from things such as telephones, public computers, door knobs, shopping carts, and even magazines in doctor's offices, you can get them from touching dried up feces. I am not sure why you asked this question, but I have a 4 year old little boy and can think of some reasons for wanting to know this. If your child has touched or played with dried feces then perhaps you should bathe him well, watch him for a few days, and if something doesn't seem right take him (or her, I suppose) to a doctor. If that is not the case and you are simply curious, just remember that EVERYTHING has bacteria on it. And also, very few things are "completely dried out". Moisture can be trapped in tiny amounts in anything, even paper, gl, dried feces. It only takes a tiny amount of moisture for bacteria to form. Now if the feces is dehydrated, and locked in an air-tight container for a long period of time, bacteria will have used any oxygen and water up and turned it into waste. Then, as the carbon dioxide levels rise, the bacteria will slowly die off, having nothing to thrive on. And that is the only way that feces will be free of infectious bacteria. I hope this helped!

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