# Fart transmitted diseases **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406 "2017-03-17T14:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/1 "2017-03-17T14:33:53Z")
Certain diseases can be transmitted by way of human poop (i.e. cholera), right? Well, could they not also be transmitted by fart? Aren’t farts just airbourne poop molecules? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/2 "2017-03-17T15:00:13Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > Certain diseases can be transmitted by way of human poop (i.e. cholera), right? Well, could they not also be transmitted by fart? Aren’t farts just airbourne poop molecules? “poop molecules” is a very vague term, but most of a fart, including the smelly parts, are gaseous. Unless you’re farting naked very little that isn’t a gas will spread beyond your buttock area. This link, although it starts with a debunked fart video, describes an experiment with farting onto petri dishes. No growth when farting through pants. [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/08/27/farts-carry-germs-depends-wearing-pants/#.WMv4WMnavIU](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/08/27/farts-carry-germs-depends-wearing-pants/#.WMv4WMnavIU) Just a single experiment, but indicative that plugging butts should not be the first step to limit the spread of disease. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/3 "2017-03-17T15:13:29Z")
I kinda want Cecil to answer this question—not because I want to see what he’d say about it, but because I want to see how Slug would illustrate it. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/4 "2017-03-17T16:42:21Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > Aren’t farts just airbourne poop molecules? No, they aren’t. Farts are intestinal gases. “Airborne poop molecules” is a fair approximation of what you’re smelling in a recently used bathroom, however. Still won’t transmit disease. Sticking your face in the bowl when you flush _will_ send a different kind of airborne poop molecule into your face, and that very well _could_ transmit disease. You have to understand that “poop transmits disease” is a shorthand for “certain microorganisms in poop cause disease.” Farts and volatile olfactory compounds don’t transmit disease-carrying microorganisms. Aerosolized-poop spray, however, can. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/5 "2017-03-17T16:57:02Z")
An aside, but I worked with a guy who was pathologically germophopic. A fart would send him out of the room for fear of breathing germs. “You know, a fart is like smelling the inside of someone’s colon,” he’d whine. I wish I knew where to send him the link above. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/6 "2017-03-17T17:33:56Z")
Infectious laughter. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/7 "2017-03-17T17:35:38Z")
If diseases were transmissible through flatulence, wouldn’t “I fart in your general direction” be prosecutable as a threat? ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/8 "2017-03-17T18:45:30Z")
Perhaps not diseases, but I can assure the OP and others that in one household I am familiar with, farts expelled under bed covers, even inadvertently, can result in trauma ranging from contusions to hypothermia from being forced to sleep in another room.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/9 "2017-03-18T03:40:26Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Aerosolized-poop spray The new fragrance from Chanel. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/10 "2017-03-18T12:12:43Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I kinda want Cecil to answer this question—not because I want to see what he’d say about it, but because I want to see how Slug would illustrate it. A lot like this I’d imagine: [http://r1.washingtoncitypaper.com/files/base/scomm/wcp/image/2013/01/960w/\_dev\_pubsys\_images\_20130102\_dope\_130104\_toilethover\_01\_257x257.jpg](http://r1.washingtoncitypaper.com/files/base/scomm/wcp/image/2013/01/960w/_dev_pubsys_images_20130102_dope_130104_toilethover_01_257x257.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/11 "2017-03-19T07:31:40Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > If diseases were transmissible through flatulence, wouldn’t “I fart in your general direction” be prosecutable as a threat? I sincerely hope not. It’s one of my favorite insults. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/12 "2017-03-19T07:49:23Z")
I’m damned sure that if I hadn’t evacuated the room when my dog was farting last night I would have DIED. I’m pretty sure ‘death by inhalation of something nasty’ constitutes a disease of some kind, if not technically then certainly practically! Dunno what crawled up her arse and died, but thankfully she managed to fart out whatever it was, and smells sweeter today. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/13 "2017-03-19T09:16:08Z")
> [@naita](#): > > “poop molecules” is a very vague term, but most of a fart, including the smelly parts, are gaseous. Unless you’re farting naked very little that isn’t a gas will spread beyond your buttock area. > > This link, although it starts with a debunked fart video, describes an experiment with farting onto petri dishes. No growth when farting through pants. [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/08/27/farts-carry-germs-depends-wearing-pants/#.WMv4WMnavIU](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/08/27/farts-carry-germs-depends-wearing-pants/#.WMv4WMnavIU) > > Just a single experiment, but indicative that plugging butts should not be the first step to limit the spread of disease. Yeah, farts don’t seem to have the payload to spread disease. Sharts on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-transmitted-diseases/782406/14 "2017-03-19T10:21:11Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Sticking your face in the bowl when you flush _will_ send a different kind of airborne poop molecule into your face, and that very well _could_ transmit disease. _Now_ you tell me.