In the Days before Purell

“Henry VIII bathed often and changed his undershirts daily, he was a royal rarity.“

Coronavirus has put sanitation into our collective mind. Keep your distance from others; wash your hands; don’t touch your face. Back in the sixteenth century, King Henry VIII (voted “worst monarch” by the Historical Writers Association, had the same worry. His fear of the dreaded sweating sickness caused him to sleep in a different bed every night.

Without warning, a person would be overcome with headache, neck ache, general weakness and a cold sweat covering the entire body. Then came fever, dehydration and heart palpitations. In less than twenty-four hours, half of those afflicted were dead. The infection was blamed on foreigners — sound familiar? — specifically mercenaries Henry’s father had brought to England to help him seize the throne.

Henry VIII
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Air Travel Safety

How safe is air travel, really? We are at the height of the vacation-travel season. Here is something to think about at the airport, while you’re waiting in line for the security screening: “How (and How Often) Airplane Bathrooms Are Cleaned

Transgender and Sanitation

Rubina is using the hanging toilet everyday in molar slum. Rubina has lived here for last three years. Before that she was in village. Her husband got a job in Dhaka so they moved into the slum. The toilet they are currently using is a shared hanging toilet. It is situated 20 metres from their home. Once, in middle of the night, she went to the toilet and someone knocked the toilet door so harshly as if they were going to break the door. She got very scared and nearly fainted by the incident. Since then, she is too scared to use the toilet after 9pm.I’m so glad to live in an affluent country where we can have controversy and outrage about who is using which public rest room. And where state legislatures controlled by purported small-government politicians can pass laws prohibiting local governments from legislating certain things. Poorer countries have concerns about toilets more basic than the gender of the person using one.

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