How to Prevent Infection
An infection is when a foreign species or pathogen gains access to a host organism and uses the host’s resources to multiply, usually to the host’s own detriment. Human pathogens usually come in the form of viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi.
Preventing infection means preventing sickness and disease. Infection, when left unchecked for too long, may turn into a more serious condition with accompanying complications and worse, even death.
There are several ways for you to keep protected from infection and from preventing infection. Most of them are pretty easy to remember and can be integrated with our daily habits. Here’s how to prevent infection from getting to us.
Sanitize Your Hands
Washing your hands is the number one method to prevent infection. Your hands make the most contact with different items and people everyday. Your hands also make contact with different pathogens everyday, and when you touch your eyes, mouth, nose, your hands provide a bridge where the pathogens can cross over to your body. Infectious diseases such as colds and flu can pass from hand-to-hand contact. Food infection like salmonella can also be caused by dirty hands handling food.
To wash your hands properly, all you need is soap and warm water. Hand sanitizers are also good to clean your hands, but soap is still the best. You do not have to use antibacterial soap as they will simply make the bacteria toughen up against the sanitizing agents.
Wash your hands by wetting your hands and lathering soap all over them. Keep lathering for around 15 to 20 seconds, scrubbing all parts of your hand, especially between your fingers and under your fingernails. Rinse your hands and dry well, either with a towel, tissue or a hand dryer. Use a tissue when turning off the faucet or touching the doorknob out of the lavatory.
To sanitize your hands, you must use half a teaspoon of alcohol or sanitizer and rub all over your hands until completely dry.
Sanitize your hands after they have contact with anything unsanitary-public toilets, diapers, trash and animals. If you are sick, it’s also recommended that you wash your hands after covering your mouth as you cough or sneeze. You should also wash your hands before and after handling food to prevent salmonella and other food infection.
Don’t Share Personal Items
What are personal items? As a general rule, personal items are those that you use exclusively, repeatedly and have direct contact to your skin, mouth, eyes, and bodily orifices. That would put towels, toothbrushes, lipstick, razors, socks and even clothes under the general category of personal items. By keeping your personal items personal, you lessen the risk of spreading infection (if you have it) to others and getting infection from someone else that used your personal things.
Keep Wounds Clean
Open wounds and scratches are potential sites of infection, no matter how small. To clean a wound, wash your hands first and put on sterile gloves. Use disinfected water (1 oz of povidone iodine in one liter of water, set aside for five minutes) to wash away excess dirt and blood. Dab the wound dry with a sterile cloth, and use a clean bandage to cover it up. Replace the bandage after a few hours, or until the wound is completely dry.
If you have an infected wound, it’s best to keep to yourself for a few days until the wound is completely healed. Avoid doing sports, going to the gym or going out to high-traffic spaces (such as a club) to prevent a spread of infection.
For more serious wounds, go to a hospital for immediate treatment.
Shower
Sports or working out in the gym exposes you to germs and bacteria. Shower immediately after a game, and throw all the clothes and towels you used straight in the laundry. The same goes following outdoor activities such as camping and hiking. Showering after strenuous activities outdoors ensures that all the pathogens you may be carrying with you are washed off as soon as possible. A quick shower daily is actually a great way for you prevent pathogens from hanging around after your day-to-day activities.
Be Hygienic
Being hygienic not only means keeping your body clean, but keeping your surroundings clean and sterile as well. Personal hygiene means washing your hands regularly, brushing your teeth, flossing your teeth and not sharing your personal items, among other things.
Keeping a hygienic environment means not giving bacteria and other pathogens an opportunity to breed and multiply. Throwing out your trash, cleaning up your bathroom regularly, sweeping the floor, dusting, cleaning out filters and keeping a regular laundry schedule are some of the many things you’ll need to do to keep your house truly clean.