title: What is the biblical attitude towards personal hygiene during vaginal bleeding?
abstract: To analyze biblical passages associated with personal hygiene during vaginal bleeding. According to the Bible, a woman who is menstruating or who has pathological vaginal bleeding is unclean. Anybody who touches such a woman's bed or her personal things is also regarded as unclean and should therefore, wash carefully. Sexual relations are forbidden within 7 days from the beginning of menstruation and during pathological vaginal bleeding. Seven days after the cessation of vaginal bleeding, a woman is considered as clean, and therefore, sexual contacts are permitted. From a modern perspective sexual contacts during menses are associated with the development of chlamydial and gonococcal diseases, the risk of transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus infection, endometriosis and subsequent infertility. This report indicates that the roots of contemporary obstetric preventive medicine can be traced to Biblical times.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty for Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Family Physician Specialist, P.O. Box 572, 82104, Kiryat-Gat, Israel. lbennun@zahav.net.il
authors.forename: Liubov Louba
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Ben-Noun
mesh_terms: D001633:Bible; D005260:Female; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene / Q000266:history*; D008598:Menstruation; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000266:history*; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage / Q000266:history