# can you give someone pink eye by passing gas on their pillow?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-someone-pink-eye-by-passing-gas-on-their-pillow/406751>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 4, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-someone-pink-eye-by-passing-gas-on-their-pillow/406751 "2007-06-04T20:29:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![saucytango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@saucytango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucytango)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-someone-pink-eye-by-passing-gas-on-their-pillow/406751/1 "2007-06-04T20:29:30Z")

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In the new movie “Knocked Up,” a group of roommates claimed they gave each other pink eye by farting on each other’s pillows. They also specified that the farting involved direct anus to pillow contact.

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-someone-pink-eye-by-passing-gas-on-their-pillow/406751/2 "2007-06-04T20:59:54Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Pink eye (conjunctivitis) is an inflammation or infection of the transparent membrane (conjunctiva) that lines your eyelid and part of your eyeball. The cause of pink eye is commonly a bacterial or viral infection, an allergic reaction or — in newborns — an incompletely opened tear duct.

Source: [http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pink-eye/DS00258](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pink-eye/DS00258)

Now that the medical definition is out there the answer should be mud in your eye. Well, perhaps bacteria or a virus, both of which that could be expelled in a fart.

😃

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**Author:** ![recessiveMeme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@recessiveMeme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/recessiveMeme)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-someone-pink-eye-by-passing-gas-on-their-pillow/406751/3 "2007-06-04T21:10:57Z")

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[QUOTE=saucytango]  
They also specified that the farting **involved direct anus to pillow contact**.  
[/quote]  
I won’t get into the odds on this, but my guess is that _any_ activity involving some third object (a pillow, your thumb, whatever…) that facilitates the transmission of bacteria from one’s anus to one’s eyeball carries a pretty reasonable risk of pinkeye.

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-someone-pink-eye-by-passing-gas-on-their-pillow/406751/4 "2007-06-04T22:25:58Z")

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dupe

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-someone-pink-eye-by-passing-gas-on-their-pillow/406751/5 "2007-06-04T22:26:00Z")

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dupe :o

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-someone-pink-eye-by-passing-gas-on-their-pillow/406751/6 "2007-06-04T22:25:21Z")

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Considering those guys weren’t the neatest pins in the pincushion, and they, um, passed things around quite a bit, it wouldn’t hard for the virus to spread by hand. According to advice from docs, it’s terribly easy to spread and I was even told to stay home from work to avoid spreading it.