So, the place I live, it’s in a large overpopulated metropolitan. The parking area is basically the road and it always had a strong stench of urine and remnants of cowdung, but today due to faulty sewers fecal matter had overflown onto the road and of c, no one had cleaned it. It’s a deadend road so the only people stepping on it are people who live here, but I had to take care of my Motorbike there and had to clean it properly, so I could see stuff on my tires and while splashing the tires with water, I might have gotten a bit of stuff on my legs.
I felt deeply disgusted of my situation, but I felt scared of catching something as I am often exposed to stuff like this. The rented hotel I lived in has foot prints on the lift doors and it smelled of saliva and was painted red by marks of chweable tobacco product. The interesting thing is, I pay a premium to live in this place as every other place I went to smelled of sweat and piss (inside the rooms, this is outside, my room is neat and clean)
P.S: I sprayed isopropyl alcohol on everything I had touched just to sanitize it. But, isopropyl alcohol is apparently toxic and I am not supposed to use it frequently, what shall I do?
How can I keep myself safe and sane in this environment?
I’m just repeating the obvious thing: always take off your outside shoes in your living quarters, and have home shoes. You can also do this with your clothes, having a separate comfy set. Jut to keep the outside clothes off of your furniture / bed.
I work with waste waters.
A very cheap and affordable away to keep anything clean is common hard soap. Lye soap is very good at cleaning without destroying things in the process. I use for washing clothes, floors, walls and even personal hygiene. It won’t leave a nice scent behind but everything will be clean.
Look up in your local market for desinfecting solutions. These are usually dissolved in water to make a solution you can spray over objects and surfaces. You can also spray your shoes with it usually. Being highly concentrated, even a small bottle will make a good amount of solution that may last you for a couple of months. Just prepare it in batches.
If you need to work outside in unsanitary conditions, the best protection is prevention. Use a breathing mask, gloves and cover your skin, especially if you have open wounds. Wear safety glasses, as well. You can also consider buying a full body hazmat suit; there are suits made to be reusable and washable.
Last, you should consider filling a complaint for bad sanitary conditions for the street you live in and approach the building manager for poor hygine in the premises. I sincerely hope this a viable option for you.
Stay safe.
Well, urine isn’t going to be much of a problem at least. The kind of things you can catch from urine tend to not survive very long once the urine isn’t being kept nicely in the body. Urine is not sterile, but it also isn’t good at transmitting pathogens either.
The feces though, that can be problem. There are a shit ton of pathogens you can catch from feces. However, it’s also relatively easy to protect yourself since the most common ones aren’t going to bother you just by being on your skin. They can be a problem in cuts, but on healthy skin, nothing.
The key is to not let it sit there, and never, ever touch your face, or genitals, with whatever the feces is on.
Good hand washing solves the problem for that kind of contact. And it’s easy to wash the rest of your arms if that’s where the poop is.
You don’t really need any kind of antimicrobial at all, if you have access to clean water and soap. That really does take care of the issue.
For your feet, the main worry is that it not get on your feet and stay there. You can run into parasites that way. But shoes will handle small puddles or just smears on a sidewalk. Just don’t wear them into your home. Either take them off and carry them in for cleaning, or leave them outside of your living space.
Ideally, if you’re going to be walking through spilled sewage often, get overshoes that are able to completely prevent contact with your actual shoes shoes, and treat them like that.
Wash any clothing that gets contaminated as soon as possible. Again, if it’s going to be frequent, consider some kind of over pants, and/or switch to synthetic fabrics that are easier to clean.
Seriously, as nasty as poop is, and as much of a health risk as it can be, it isn’t anything you have to go crazy about. It washes off easily, and protective gear to keep your clothing clean is typically inexpensive.
If your bike needs cleaning, just pay attention so that you don’t splash much. It would be better to get in there and scrub with your hands than have splashes get in your eye or mouth.
I spent twenty years wiping people’s asses for them, giving them baths. Never once got sick because of poop. You just pay attention to what you’re doing, and don’t let dirty areas on you come in contact with places that any pathogens can get inside your body.
Sanitizing gels and such do work, though not as well as a good scrubbing. Reserve that for when there will be a delay between your contact with any feces, and being able to properly wash.
But keeping sane? That’s a harder subject. Best I can tell you is that if you stay focused on doing what it takes to be able to get away from an area like that, it’s enough to maybe hold onto and get through.
IPA is fine, but it’s not a good idea to inhale the fumes, or get the liquid on your hands too often.
It dries your hands out something rotten.
