[HN Gopher] Human parasites in the Roman World: health consequen...
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Human parasites in the Roman World: health consequences of
conquering an empire
Author : GeoAtreides
Score : 65 points
Date : 2024-07-20 15:46 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.cambridge.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.cambridge.org)
| arbuge wrote:
| "Despite their large multi-seat public latrines with washing
| facilities, sewer systems, sanitation legislation, fountains and
| piped drinking water from aqueducts, we see the widespread
| presence of whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), roundworm (Ascaris
| lumbricoides) and Entamoeba histolytica that causes dysentery.
| This would suggest that the public sanitation measures were
| insufficient to protect the population from parasites spread by
| fecal contamination. Ectoparasites such as fleas, head lice, body
| lice, pubic lice and bed bugs were also present, and delousing
| combs have been found. The evidence fails to demonstrate that the
| Roman culture of regular bathing in the public baths reduced the
| prevalence of these parasites."
|
| I would think that the communal nature of the latrines and baths
| would actually have contributed to increasing the incidence of
| those parasites, rather than decreasing them.
| welder wrote:
| Especially because they used shared reusable sponges to wipe
| instead of bidet
| shaky-carrousel wrote:
| It was probably used as a toilet brush.
| jowdones wrote:
| I swear I read "toothbrush". Took me 4 or 5 passes to
| realize it's "toilet".
|
| Joking, maybe they did use the sponge alternatively as a
| bottom brush and tooth brush. Not in this order, probably
| :)
| ghodith wrote:
| I don't think there was anything to brush, normally just an
| elevated hole with running water underneath
| palisade wrote:
| Nope, it was use in the butt itself.
| kuschku wrote:
| They didn't - they used ripped pieces of fabric and cloth to
| wipe themselves. They used the sponges to clear obstructions,
| somewhat like a combined toilet brush / plunger.
| palisade wrote:
| Hate to break it to you, the sponge was for their butt.
| And, in Asia they didn't have a sponge they just used a
| stick.
| quonn wrote:
| No it wasn't.
| practicemaths wrote:
| I think contextually it depends.
|
| If you compare rural living to urban living, then maybe you
| could say latrines and baths contributed to increase in
| parasites.
|
| However that's a bad comparison.
|
| What would be better is compare similar levels of urbanization
| (population density) with and without latrines & baths. I
| imagine the latter may be more sanitary.
| prerok wrote:
| Exactly. I wonder/think that reports from medieval and early
| modern age London were much worse.
| shaky-carrousel wrote:
| That's because you are comparing it with our current systems.
| You have to compare it with what it existed before, basically
| people relieving themselves everywhere.
| Wytwwww wrote:
| I don't think Romans invented sewage systems or plumbing.
| That existed all over the Mediterranean for hundreds of years
| prior we just don't know much about them (no written sources,
| less archaeological research/evidence etc.).
| AlbertCory wrote:
| > no written sources, less archaeological research/evidence
| etc.
|
| Makes sense. So how do you know?
| srean wrote:
| Hundreds of years and Mediterranean you say...
|
| It boggles my mind that Indus valley civilization had flush
| toilets. That would be roughly 3000~2600 B.C. Its both sad
| and ironic in the context of some of the poorly serviced
| parts of India (sanitarily speaking).
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flush_toilet#History
| kergonath wrote:
| No written sources from around the Mediterranean before
| Rome? Also, no archaeological evidence?
|
| You must be joking.
|
| I am not saying the Romans were the first, but surely we
| can do better than "of course there were others, but we
| don't know".
| space_oddity wrote:
| Agree, facilities such as latrines and baths likely contributed
| to the spread of parasites rather than mitigating it
| peoplefromibiza wrote:
| > rather than decreasing them
|
| Romans used sponges to clean their butt in public toilets, but
| sponges were shared.
|
| I guess that didn't help...
| wdh505 wrote:
| I think they got a daily vinegar ration to soak the sponge
| and make it less smelly. Some believe that the sponge offered
| to christ on the cross was a poo vinegar sponge.
| dredmorbius wrote:
| Centralised latrines _with waste diverted from freshwater
| supplies_ would be a net-net win over, say, backyard privvies
| which soaked directly into adjacent wells and surface streams.
| The latter was the case in cities such as London and New York
| well into the 19th, and early 20th, centuries. Keep in mind
| that the haulage of human waste itself ( "night soil" in some
| cultures) was a major activity with its dedicated labour pool
| (pardon the mental image...), though that was in part based on
| social shunning of those who were so employed.
|
| Concentrations of people create hygenic issues regardless. On
| balance, Romes latrines were _probably_ a net benefit, though
| of course the Romans lacked modern understanding of disease,
| both in parasitic and infectious forms.
|
| Even today, roughly 85% of the increase in human longevity,
| much due to decreased infant and child mortality, is
| attributable to general hygiene, municipal sanitation measures
| (both of wastes such as sewerage, solid rubbish, and of
| improved air quality; and of vastly improved water and food
| quality. Other public health measures, including quarantine,
| epidemiological surveillance, and vaccinations, also played a
| huge role. I first became aware of this through Laurie
| Garrett's book _The Coming Plague_ (1994):
| <https://search.worldcat.org/title/30701925>
|
| See "The Conquest of Pestilence in New York City" for a ...
| graphic ... expression of the trends in mortality from ~1800
| through 2000 or so:
|
| <https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uTWEATUzgxk/TXQoTibILtI/AAAAAAAAA..
| .>
| beloch wrote:
| If you go to the public latrine at Ephesus today, it looks
| pretty awesome. It's out in the air. Nice views in all
| directions. If you can get over the communal nature of it, it
| seems like a fantastic spot to do your business.
|
| In Roman times, public latrines were places of last resort.
| They were typically enclosed, poorly ventilated, and notorious
| for rats and explosions[1]. For most Romans, making it home to
| your own commode was vastly preferred.
|
| This brings us to a funny quirk of roman home design. Toilets
| were usually located in kitchens and "flushed" with wastewater
| from the kitchen. In most homes these toilets were connected to
| cesspits that were periodically emptied, and not to the sewers.
|
| [1]https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-
| europe/rats-e...
| notnmeyer wrote:
| aside from this being appalling, "notorious for rats and
| explosions" is pretty funny
| Mistletoe wrote:
| Well let's look on the bright side, did they have less auto-
| immune diseases?
|
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1618732/
| BobbyTables2 wrote:
| The headline made me think that that the "parasites" were going
| to be the Romans!
| space_oddity wrote:
| The Romans had advanced public health infrastructure, it was
| inadequate in preventing the spread of parasites still.
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