Pinkeye or Stinkeye?
Have a health myth or question? E-mail Chris at maneaterhealth@gmail.com
As a medical student, I am constantly learning about diseases: which diseases are out there, what their symptoms are and what causes them.
In most cases, the cause of a disease makes sense. Smoking irritates your lungs and can cause emphysema. Eating foods high in fat can cause plaque buildup in your arteries and result in a heart attack.
There are times, however, when the cause of a disease is so outlandish that I can only laugh.
Last week I developed a case of pinkeye that resulted in some embarrassment at work.
During dinner that night, a buddy of mine looked at me and said, “Someone didn’t fart on your face, did they?”
After a moment of hilarious confusion, I asked him what in the world would make him think that and discovered his belief that you can get pinkeye from exposure to flatulence.
This conception was at the center of a comedic scene from the movie “Knocked Up,” in which the movie’s characters discuss getting pinkeye if someone farts on your pillow and “poo particles make their way into your ocular cavities.”
So is this conception simply a myth, or should I be suspecting foul play on the part of my roommate?
Pinkeye, also known as conjunctivitis, is the irritation and inflammation of the conjunctiva, or outermost layer of the eye, and can cause your eyes to become painful, red and watery.
Although viruses cause most cases of pinkeye, it can also be caused by bacteria, allergens or chemicals.
The most common bacterial causes of pinkeye are Staphylococcal (Staph) and Streptococcal (Strep) species, though this accounts for only 5 percent of cases. Allergies to indoor and outdoor particles like pollen, pet dander or household molds can cause eye irritation as well.
So, does flatulence, or even “poo particles” for that matter, contain the needed ingredients to cause pinkeye?
The answer lies in the composition of flatus and feces. Human flatus is mainly composed of five gases, and although the amount of each gas may vary, it is very unlikely they exist in high enough concentrations to cause eye irritation. Feces do contain bacteria and even minute concentrations have been known to cause disease in humans.
However, even if fecal particles containing the most common bacteria found in feces make their way into your ocular cavities, they are unlikely to cause pinkeye.
What about viruses? Could adenovirus, the most common virus to cause pinkeye, be transmitted through flatulence of fecal matter?
University Hospital Internal Medicine resident Anantha Vellipuram believes this is a possibility.
“While it is not likely for the natural gases found in flatulence to cause conjunctivitis, contamination of your eyes by direct contact with fecal material could, in theory, spread adenovirus,” Vellipuram said.
This means that if your eyes come in direct contact with the fecal material or flatulence of someone who is infected with adenovirus or other, more rare bacteria, you could theoretically develop pinkeye.
“Rarer bacterial causes of conjunctivitis can also be spread through aerosolization of fecal material,” Vellipuram said. “Whether or not an infected human can transmit these bacteria to another human is uncertain.”
I think it’s time to have a talk with my roommate.