When you smell poop or fart, does that mean the poop particles have gone up your nose?
However, a doctor from Australia did a test to see if the bacteria from the passing gas can contaminate patients. The doctor did so after being interrogated by a nurse regarding this query.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki said on his science phone-in radio show in Brisbane,
She wanted to know whether she was contaminating the operating theatre she worked in by quietly farting in the sterile environment during operations, and I realised that I didn’t know,
But I was determined to find out.
Moreover, he contacted a microbiologist in Canberra to do an experimental study and most experiments require smashing particles. Some of them can also be conducted after farting into a Petri dish.
Luke Tennent, Dr Karl’s microbiologist friend asked one of his colleagues to fart in a petri dish from 5cms away.
He was asked to do it fully clothes once and undressed the other time. Moreover, although this is not very close to a scientific study, it gave Dr Karl scientific reasoning. It enabled him to evaluate the nurse’s question about whether she should pass wind in the OT. Or if the bacteria will pass on to the patients.
The petri dish was left overnight. The next morning, the petri dish that was farted on without clothes had sprouted visible lumps of bacteria. Two types of bacteria were seen, which are usually found in the gut and skin according to a report in BMJ. However, flatulence that made its way through clothes had no bacteria sprouting.
Dr Karl said,
Our deduction is that the enteric zone in the second Petri dish was caused by the flatus itself, and the splatter ring around that was caused by the sheer velocity of the fart, which blew skin bacteria from the cheeks and blasted it onto the dish,
He further said that although bacteria sprouted in the dish, they were harmless and friendly bacteria like the ones in yoghurt.
Our final conclusion? Don’t fart naked near food.
