# Diseases and dangers



## saphireblue (Mar 14, 2008)

I have a question has anyone ever gotten sick from digging in the dumps?  I heard diseases like syphilis and tuberculosis stay alive for a long time.  I personally havent gotten sick from digging.


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## GuntherHess (Mar 14, 2008)

You must be doing more than digging if you get syphilis from a dump[]


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## saphireblue (Mar 14, 2008)

LOL.  This was something brought up in another group I go on.  I guess these diseases stay alive along time.  I try not to think about the dangers.  I just take precaution in what Im doing.  I dont wanna think about the possibles and be a worry wart.  Theres risk in everything we do.


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## GuntherHess (Mar 14, 2008)

I never heard of anyone getting anything other than tetnus, poison ivy, or allergic reactions to the dust and mold.
 If those pathagens survived, they didnt survive well...


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## capsoda (Mar 15, 2008)

Most anything you would dig in an old, 1920s and back, would be a killed virus and probably wouldn't be dangerous.

 I have heard all the syphilis tales. You get it from smilling at girls. [sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif]
 Syphilis is a contact disease so you wont find it in a dump and the bacteria that causes TB won't live very long without a host and especially not 70+years.

 I have had a raspy cough from diging and hitting some dusty substances. Cough goes away with a bottle of water. Other than that nothing.


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## JGUIS (Mar 15, 2008)

I know diggers have got sick from privies.   Privies that were topped off with poultry poo, along with attic hunting and pigeon poo are the biggest hazards I know of.  I have ended up with upper respiratory infections from attic hunting, and crawlspaces.  Don't stir the dust if you don't have a mask.  I've been poked, sliced, stabbed, and gashed in privies and dumps, and nada.  Just rub the mud in to stop the bleeding, you'll be fine.[]


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## Mattkoz (Mar 15, 2008)

Well yes, you can get a disease, its called bottle fever
 symptoms:
 wanting to go out and dig bottle dumps []


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## baltbottles (Mar 19, 2008)

> Just rub the mud in to stop the bleeding, you'll be fine.


 
 You sound like my digging partner hes been digging privies for the past 40 years. He likes to dig the trash layer with his bare hands. And never breaks anything he usually manages to cut himself quite a few times but doesn't really care. I watched him one day going through a thick wet black 1820s layer and got a brass straight pit jamed up under his finger nail. I think that was the fastest I've ever saw him move. Then we all made a joke about him finding the needle in the haystack. I think we found a blackglass porter and a few London mustard type bottles that day and a pile of nice broken ceramics.

 Chris


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## JGUIS (Mar 21, 2008)

I do have that fault also.  Once stuff starts showing, I start getting sliced.  Then when I actually have gloves on, something stupid stabs me anyway, so I can't win.  I need some fillet gloves.[]


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## glass man (Mar 21, 2008)

I had a teacher one time say all the rotting substances compressed over a long period of time could produce pockets of poison gas ,that may not kill ,but could make a digger very sick. They have found T.B. virus alive and well in a mummy and syphilis in three daddies, but bottle diggers dug them all up in time and they were taken to the horsbitle and now they run a HOOTERS next to the glassworks auction building! BOTTLE COLLECTORS GET A FREE BOTTLE WITH EVERY HOOT!DAMN INSOMIA![]


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## downeastdigger (Mar 21, 2008)

I was thigh deep in mud once and got a bit of acid burn from some rotting car batteries, I jumped into a nearby stream. Close call, but thats about it for me.


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## camron_poe (Mar 21, 2008)

fungal spores can lay dormant for a 100 years but ive never had more that a cough probably caused by breathing in ash or something but hey if i find good layer of bottles ill take a cough


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## reptilekeeper (Mar 21, 2008)

Wipeing sweat off my forehead I rubbed something nasty on my skin, at first it felt like I scrached myself with briars I didn't think much about it, got home it was a bunch of red splotches on my forehead and eye, took a shower it burned like crazy, woke up the next morning it looked like I had Face cancer. Possibly old battery acid.


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## bigghouse (Mar 23, 2008)

I had to where long sleeves caus of West Nile in 90 degree weather.


 i got sick, a cold from being outside in the cold but that doesnt count


 anna


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## JGUIS (Mar 24, 2008)

It makes me wonder about teatnus shots, and their longevity.  I had a nurse tell me a couple years ago that they last alot longer than they thought originally.  I had my last one when I was 10 or 11, and have put nails through my boots (and my foot), been cut, scratched, and torn by rusty metal, barbed wire, and old car parts without the slightest tinge in my jaw.  Anyone here ever had lockjaw, from digging or otherwise?


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## cordilleran (Mar 24, 2008)

The last time I suffered from lockjaw is when I scrapped with a 300-pound bouncer in an Oklahoma bar. Seriously, Lockjaw, or tetanus is a serious issue but rare. 
 Tetanus is an acute, often-fatal disease of the nervous system that is caused by nerve toxins produced by the bacterium _Clostridium tetani_. This bacterium is found throughout the world in the soil and in animal and human intestines, and likely as residue in privy pits. Not to worry. The protein sheath comprising the protective barrier of bacteria is not as durable as is found in viruses. Hence, bacterium, for the most part, do not survive long in situ. That said, I will tell you that it is wise to get a tetanus shot every eight to 10 years, or whenever you suffer a significant puncture wound. In exploiting outhouse sites, the most dangerous thing to anyone is excavation collapse. With dump sites in dry weather, it's best to wear a protective mask. Particulates generated from stirring the ground can lodge in the upper respiratory system causing bronchitis (that nagging cough, especially in winter). At worst, depending on the composition of the particulates and longevity of exposure, "black lung", pneumoconiosis, (CWP) or anthracosis, named for the affliction experienced by Pennsylvania anthracite coal  miners, or silicosis (also known as Grinder's Disease or Potter's Rot) due to the high microcrystalline silica composition of the soil, together serve as an excavator's tag-team threat and respiratory ailments that can be avoided with prudent prevention.


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## GuntherHess (Mar 24, 2008)

Anyone digging bottles should have an up to date Tetanus vacination. You WILL get cut, no doubt there.[]


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## JGUIS (Mar 26, 2008)

Doug is currently in the ER because he jammed a piece of glass into the tendon in his wrist.  Hopefully he'll get some pics this time.[]  He's in pain, but he managed to finish the hole after a quick patch job, so he should be fine.  Glad it wasn't me.[]


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## Stardust (Mar 28, 2008)

tetanus bacteria are commonly found in. soil, *dirt* and manure so you don't have to just get cut. makes me think back to being a little kid and all those mud pies i ate. Sure was fun making them. don't think i caught anything.When digging or in the garden digging a little Vaseline in the nose helps to stop all that dirt from being inhaled if you can't stand wearing a mask. They drive me nuts.

 also read Polio was once gotten from the soil. i think a little dirt is good for everyone, as we need a little bacteria in our body.

 i prefer to get it from  probiotics. ~Stardust~


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## RedGinger (Mar 28, 2008)

My great grandmother always said, "You eat a peck of dirt before you die."


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## myersdiggers1998 (Mar 29, 2008)

one spot we dug had 6'' of broken thermometers 2''long the soil was black from mercury. another spot had a thick layer of asbestos in it ,i felt sick but it was just a figment of my imagination.[:-]


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## tigue710 (Mar 29, 2008)

I hope it was your imagination! hope the asbestos was wet.  The mercury on the other hand is DANGEROUS...  it only takes a very small amount to make you sick...  and it wont make you feel sick, it will just make you severely mentally disabled down the road...


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## myersdiggers1998 (Mar 29, 2008)

thats my problem, thanks tigue.


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## madman (Mar 29, 2008)

ahh dump dirt and dust isnt it lovely? ive gotten sick from breathing ash before, man dont breath any dump dust,  wear a mask, thats my 2 cents mike


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## tigue710 (Mar 30, 2008)

hey I know from experience!   what was that?  I like turtles....

 Mercury is probably the worst thing we have to deal with as diggers, the battery acid too of course...

 I got into some of that without knowing it and got home to find holes in my shirt and and burns on my hand... but I d rather that then forget what I'm doing in the woods with a shovel and hand rake!


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## ktbi (Mar 30, 2008)

I had a Kidney transplant last year and was cautioned/warned/ordered (because of my suppressed immune system) to specifically avoid cat boxes and digging in the dirt.  There are definitely things that go bump in the night that can hurt you, but if you are generally healthy and take reasonable precautions - shouldn't be a problem.....Haven't been for many years, but I still miss digging.  Just not worth the risk anymore for me anyhow.....Ron


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