Very small tears in the delicate anal tissue are apparently a common problem in humans, obviously more so in certain groups than others. Whether they’re microscopic or severe enough to cause bleeding, why doesn’t the faecal matter enter the blood stream and make you very ill? If you ate faeces you’d get gastroenteritis I assume, so wouldn’t faecal matter in the blood be really dangerous?
In: Biology
It’s because your immune system attacks any small numbers of bacteria that enter. If someone is severely neutropenic (very very low immune system usually because of chemotherapy), then avoiding constipation is important not only for comfort but also for prevention of bloodstream infection.
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