Dear GT: No article can meet the needs of those less well informed than you are, without seeming inane to you. The matter of a fine mist of intestinal liquid being sprayed into the room is no joke. About fifty years ago the New England Journal of Medicine reported a series of cases of post-operative infection at the MGH which were traced to an anaesthetist who was a rectal carrier for penicillin resistant staph. I don't remember fatalities being mentioned, but there could have been. And think what a field day the malpractice lawyers could have had! No defense could have been successful. And how you would feel if a member of your family had been a victim?

A ratchet is a turd larger than a mouse turd.