Do compost toilets work by just selecting non-pathogenic bacteria to breakdown waste

[Elite Engineer]

So, if you build a latrine...just a hole in the ground and add excrement to it, it smells, harbors pathogens and doesnt really get converted into anything.

Compost toilets on the other hand, have little to no smell, has no pathogenic bacteria and the waste is converted into compost. 

 

I was wondering if compost toilets work as opposed to latrines because when you add extra carbon materials (i.e sawdust) and oxygen it allows for growth

of thermophilic bacteria. Thermophilic bacteria raise the temp of the waste and kill off the pathogenic species. So in this case, are compost toilets akin to

where the desired bacteria are selected via conditions of the environment?

~EE

 

 

[StringJunky]

It would seem to me that, by adding straw, soils etc, you inoculate the excreta with new decomposition bacteria and the original bacteria die off because their new environment is not conducive to their survival.