Is eating scat harmful to your health?

Answer 1

Eating scat (human feces) carries risks of bacterial infection. Your intestines contain a lot of live bacteria strains that do not belong in the rest of your body. Eating your own scat (or even putting it in your mouth or against an open cut or mucous membrane) puts you at risk of infection from these. If you are healthy and have a good immune system, your body may fight off the bacteria in a small amount of scat, but it is not a sure thing.

Eating someone else's scat carries a great risk of Hepatitis infection. It also has a risk of HIV infection if they have any small injuries in their rectum. Both are viral infections with no cure. Additionally, any other infections they carry can be passed along to you.

This is why restaurant employees are legally required to wash their hands after the toilet. Most outbreaks of intestinal illness ("Noro virus") on cruise ships are due to people not washing their hands in an enclosed environment where they are all touching each other's door handles and buffet food.

If you want to taste scat, consider first if you have a strong immune system, and whether you are willing to risk getting sick. Then consider whether it is yours or someone else's. If you want to do this at all with someone else, get your Hepatitis vaccinations and look at your partner's recent STD test results.