Expert: John Locke - 12/8/2007

Question
My elderly parents with many health problems, are on oxygen, and very immobile due to lungm liver, and other issues, etc. They have 2 dogs that they love and adore and regard possibly higher than themselves and other humans, one dog is healthy and playful that jumps on people and licks, one is 14 year old and incontinent Shitzu.
We recently visited them with our 15 month old baby for the first time. We were slightly aware of the problem but did not know that the older dog urinates anywhere and everywhere in the house and is not cleaned up so there is either puddles and/or dry urine everywhere, but not a lot of noticeable strong dor.
The baby was on the floor and covered with urine soon after. We then were forced to hold the baby and keep her off the floor which caused frustration and was reason to not spend much time there
I am having an argument convincing my father that this is unhealthy. My father already does not bath regularly, or wear shoes, drinks heavily, smokes constantly, and has oxygen tubes dragging through urine infested floors, his only resolve is to tell people not to come over and that there is no health risk....the obvious pride, stubborness, and lack of consideration are obvious. Him and wife are of high intelligence.......any suggestions and facts to use to support my stance?

Answer
Thanks for using AllExperts, Brad. Before I start into the factual aspects of your question, let me just note that facts alone may not be sufficient here. If your father is absolutely convinced that his home is sanitary, despite what you'll describe to him, then no amount of facts will change his mind. Simply be forewarned. A note on terminology: a pathogen is a microorganism that causes disease, be it bacteria, virus, fungus, worm, etc.

Urine, whether it be from a dog, cat, or human, is generally sterile when it first leaves the body. There are some exceptions to this (such as in people with urinary tract infections or STDs), but for the most part urine itself poses no health risk. Bacteria will readily grow on surfaces exposed to urine, however, and that poses a serious risk. As you may know, not all bacteria are dangerous--in fact, we depend on certain bacteria in the large intestine to manufacture vitamin K--but urine favors the growth of both pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria. You certainly wouldn't want to expose your child to that. As you know, babies have a habit of touching things in their environment, then putting their hands in their mouths. That could easily lead to infection with all the excess bacterial growth in your father's home, due to the dog urine.

With that point, I should note that babies have immune systems that are not yet fully functional, and they are at particular risk when in environments with new microorganisms. When your baby was developing, her immune system developed in response to pathogens that her mother was exposed to. Once she's born, she's most protected if she spends her time in that same environment: it is "familiar" to her immune system, so she will respond to it easily. Your father's house present new pathogens and new challenges to her immune system; that would be a problem to anyone, but particularly a young child. The risk of infections increases accordingly. There's an excellent book that discusses this called "The Body at War" by John Dwyer, if you're interested.

Your father also smokes; exposing a baby to second-hand smoke is unequivocally terrible health-wise. It is strongly associated with the later development of breathing problems. It will cause some of your baby's blood to be contaminated with carbon monoxide, which takes a long time to disperse.  The American Lung Association website (http://www.lungusa.org) lists more of the dangers, and keep in mind that the dangers are greater for young children because their respiratory systems are still in development.

Your father smokes with oxygen. This combination can easily lead to a fast-moving, intense flash fire that strikes with little warning. Oxygen functions as an oxidizer, meaning that it makes burning occur more easily: along with fuel and a heat source, it is an essential component of creating fire. In this case, the oxygen would come from your father's tank, the heat source from his cigarette, and the fuel from his clothing. Putting those together could cause a very bad fire; there's a documented story about a man who accidentally used a pure oxygen stream to blow dirt off his clothes, then lit a cigarette. The oxygen made his clothing temporarily more flammable, and he was severely burned from the resulting flash fire. This is primarily a risk to your father, obviously, but you should be aware of it too.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. If you have more questions, feel free to ask them here.