Home safety
Health, hygiene and happiness
A little bit of care and common sense can help keep your family healthy
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There are often lots of stories in the media around the spread of infectious diseases and poor hygiene. Headlines grab the public’s attention, such as “superbugs” or “killer bugs”. This often makes the public feel the problem is out of control and people become unnecessarily worried. However, there is a lot that people can do to help protect themselves and their family.
South West London Health Protection Unit supported by Reckitt Benckiser, makers of Dettol, has developed a series of public information leaflets to help allay some of these fears. These are currently being piloted in places such as doctors’ surgeries, pharmacists and nursery schools in South West London. In this article, Ann Baxter and Vivien Cleary from the SW London Health Protection Unit (part of the Health Protection Agency), explain key health and hygiene messages.
How you can help avoid respiratory infections |
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When people cough, sneeze, talk or even breathe out, they expel droplets of moisture. If the person has a respiratory infection, such as a cold or flu, the droplets will contain thousands of germs. These travel through the air and can be picked up by breathing them in. They also land on surfaces and you can become infected if you touch these surfaces and then touch your nose, eyes or mouth.
To prevent infections spreading:
- Cover your mouth and nose with a paper tissue when you cough or sneeze
- Put used tissues in a bin
- When someone has a cold or flu, clean and disinfect surfaces frequently, especially hand contact surfaces, such as handles and telephones
- Always wash your hands after any coughing or sneezing.
Why washing your hands is so important |
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Washing your hands properly is one of the best ways to avoid infections. If you don’t wash your hands, germs may spread to other people directly by touch, indirectly via contact with surfaces or during food preparation. These germs can cause diarrhoea, vomiting, food poisoning and other infections such as colds and flu.
To prevent infections spreading, always wash and dry your hands using liquid soap and a clean dry towel:
- After going to the toilet or changing a nappy
- Before handling or eating food
- Immediately after touching raw food (for example meat, poultry or vegetables)
- After touching animals or their equipment
- After coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose
- After contact with body fluids (for example blood, faeces, vomit)
- After touching a dirty surface (for example a rubbish bin or a cleaning cloth)
- Before and after giving first aid, applying contact lenses or handling medicines
- If they look or feel dirty.
“When someone in your family is ill (for example with diarrhoea or a cold) thorough hand washing can help to prevent the infection spreading to other members of your family.“ Ann Baxter |
Where good home hygiene can keep you and your family safe from infection |
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Good
home hygiene helps to reduce the spread of harmful germs in your home. Keeping things dry is important.
Germs cannot survive for long on clean dry surfaces. However, a few germs that are left somewhere warm and moist, such as on a dirty cleaning cloth, can quickly multiply and become a health hazard.
Hand contact surfaces |
Surfaces that you often touch (for example worktops or handles) are hotspots for germ transfer and you need to clean and disinfect these regularly. Hot water and detergent removes most germs, providing you can rinse the surface with running water. If you can’t, you may need to apply a disinfectant after cleaning or use a disinfectant wipe.
Food |
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Thorough cooking or boiling destroys the germs in food and water. It is important to avoid transferring germs from raw food (for example raw meat or poultry) to ready-toeat food (for example cooked meat or bread).
- Use separate chopping boards and knives for raw and ready-to-eat food
- Wash your hands, and clean and disinfect surfaces immediately after contact with raw food
- Store raw meat in sealed containers at the bottom of the fridge, so that juices do not drip on other food.
“Food poisoning is often the result of undercooking food or storing food inappropriately.” Vivien Cleary |
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Waste bins |
Bins need to be emptied, cleaned and disinfected regularly. Use a bin with a lid to prevent access by pests and reduce odours. Use a foot-operated pedal bin to avoid hand contact with dirty surfaces and always wash your hands after emptying the bin.
Cleaning utensils |
Re-using dirty cloths and cleaning equipment can spread germs around your home.
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Change sponges regularly
- Use disposable cloths if possible and discard them after use
- Wash reusable cloths and utensils (at or above 60°C), or clean and disinfect them after use
- Clean mop heads, by hot machine washing (at least 60°C), or by washing them in hot water and detergent, soaking them in a disinfectant solution and then drying them rapidly.
Toilets |
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You can pick up germs by touching contaminated surfaces on or around the toilet. The flush handle is a germ hotspot because people touch it before they wash their hands. You can reduce contamination by closing the lid before flushing to avoid splashing, and by cleaning and disinfecting the toilet and surrounding surfaces regularly. This is particularly important if someone has sickness or diarrhoea.
Other surfaces |
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Floors, furniture and walls usually have a low risk of spreading infections unless they are contaminated (for example with vomit) when they need to be cleaned and disinfected immediately. If you have a crawling baby, the risk of them picking up an infection is high (especially if you have pets) so clean and disinfect your floors frequently.
Laundry |
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Laundering fabrics at high temperature (at least 60°C) will kill most germs. If you need to use lower temperatures, consider using a suitable disinfectant to destroy the germs. Wash heavily-soiled items in a separate load, and launder items used around food (for example tea towels) separately from clothing and linen.
When you should or should not use antibiotics |
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Antibiotics are substances that harm or destroy the bacteria that cause infection and disease. They have no effect on infections caused by viruses (for example colds or flu). However, antibiotics can also kill the “friendly” bacteria that help us to function normally, for example by helping to digest our food. Therefore, it is important to only use antibiotics when absolutely necessary.
Antibiotics are becoming less effective at fighting bacteria. Some bacteria (which we call “superbugs”) are already resistant to some antibiotics, and the more we use antibiotics, the more likely it is that more bacteria will develop resistance. Using antibiotics unnecessarily increases the problem. It could mean that an antibiotic doesn’t work when you really need it and the resistant bacteria could spread to others, putting everyone at risk of untreatable infections.
To help prevent this happening:
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Only use antibiotics prescribed for you by a healthcare professional
- Take antibiotics exactly as prescribed, at regular times each day
- Even if you start to feel better, always complete the course, otherwise the infection may come back and next time the antibiotics may not work.
“Since antibiotics are becoming less effective it makes sense for everyone to take extra care to avoid infections in the first place. The best way to do this is to check with your doctor that your routine immunisations are up to date and to adopt good hygiene routines that will help protect you and your family from illness.” Vivien Cleary |
What is now happening in South West London… |
If you are visiting a doctor’s surgery in South West London, look out for our leaflets with the useful health and hygiene advice that will help you protect yourself and your family from infections. The Health Protection Agency, with the support of the Dettol experts, has supplied over 50,000 copies of each leaflet to healthcare professionals in South West London and hope to make the leaflets available in other areas of the UK during 2007.
The Health Protection Agency is an independent body that protects the UK public from infectious diseases and environmental hazards such as chemical incidents. Its regional Health Protection Units are responsible for the prevention, control and surveillance of infections at a local level. Ann Baxter is the Lead Nurse for the South West London Health Protection Unit. Vivien Cleary is a Health Protection Specialist, also at the South West London Health Protection Unit. |
