Everybody Poops

It's true. As stated by the title of this blog post and a delightful children's book, everybody poops.

And some poop more than others.

For the past week, I haven't had many adventures outside of work because I have been hiding in the bathroom. I was recently struck by a bout of severe diarrhea lasting several days. Although I have not been sick often since arriving in Quito ten months ago, it wasn't completely surprising. Gastrointestinal problems (AKA diarrhea) is the most common health problem besetting Peace Corps volunteers in Ecuador and worldwide.

Why so much gastrointestinal distress? Some can be attributed to new, albeit relatively harmless, bacteria unknown to volunteers' bodies before going to another country. The majority, however, comes from more sinister sources: harmful bacteria, parasites, worms, and amoebas. Due to unsafe water supplies and subpar food handling in markets and restaurants, the “culprits” enter volunteers' digestive tracts and they are soon racing to the bathroom far too often. Whether inadvertently consuming juice made from tap water when visiting a friend or buying a pincho (a shish kabob made of beef, sausage, peppers, potatoes, and plantains available on most street corners) from a vendor who forgot to wash his hands after handling raw meat, there are dozens of ways to contract these pests even if the volunteer consciously boils all water and thoroughly cooks all meat at home.

As volunteers, however, we are lucky to have numerous resources available to counteract bacteria, parasites, worms, amoebas, etc. We are counseled by Peace Corps medical staff in Quito as to how to do stool samples and, depending on the result, which medicines will have us back to normal as soon as possible. In the meantime, our medical kits are equipped with large supplies of rehydration salts so we can avoid dehydration. Mixed with Gatorade, the salts don't even taste too bad.

Many others plagued by these pests and the consequential diarrhea are not so lucky. Across the world, diarrhea is the second leading cause of death amongst children under the age of five; generally, it is not the poop that kills them but the resulting dehydration. Unfortunately, oftentimes, the very dirty water than made them sick in the first place is the only liquid available to quench their first and they become even sicker.

Death from diarrhea is entirely preventable--access to clean water, access to resources to rehydrate, knowledge. It should be easy. It should be prevented today.

After all, everybody poops. The lucky ones, like me, spend a few days gulping Gatorade spiked with rehydration salts. The unlucky, on the other hand, don´t have the opportunity to tell (or blog) their tale.