What You Can Do to Prevent Communicable Diseases

Americans benefit from some of the most exacting health and safety regulations in the world. These laws regulate our food and drink products, drugs and immunizations, and animal and insect control. They shield us from many of the infectious diseases that plague less-developed countries. Yet amazingly, we still report more than 160,000 deaths every year as a result of infectious diseases.

The good news is that many of those diseases can be prevented through extremely simple, inexpensive methods. The bad news is that we are taking less than full advantage of these proven methods, although most are simple to do.

Wash Your Hands
We constantly pick up germs from other people, animals and contaminated surfaces, then infect ourselves by touching our eyes, nose or mouth. Washing your hands gets rid of the germs before you have a chance to spread them to yourself or others.

In addition to colds, more serious diseases like hepatitis A, meningitis and infectious diarrhea can be prevented if people make a habit of washing their hands. Washing your hands regularly can save you a lot of money on medical bills.

You should wash your hands often; probably more than you do now. You can't see germs and there's no way of telling if you're carrying them around. It's especially important to wash your hands in the following circumstances:

• Before, during, and after you prepare food
• Before you eat
• After you use the toilet
• After handling animals or animal waste
• When your hands are dirty
• More often when someone in your home is sick.

These tips are important no matter where you are - at home, at work or in public places like restaurants or movies.

For complete information on this topic, see the HealthLink article 15-Second Procedure Saves Lives (and you already know how to do it).

Clean and Disinfect Surfaces
Another way to help you keep the germs away is to routinely clean and disinfect surfaces. Cleaning and disinfecting are not the same thing. In most cases, cleaning with soap and water is adequate to remove dirt and germs, but sometimes you need to disinfect to provide an extra margin of safety.

Under the right conditions, some germs can live on surfaces for hours or even days. Even if surfaces look clean, many infectious germs might be lurking around. Disinfectants, such as regular household bleach, have ingredients that destroy bacteria and other germs. It's a good idea to disinfect areas such as kitchens and bathrooms where there are high concentrations of germs and a possibility they will be spread to others.

• Before you start, read the labels and safety precautions on your cleaning products. Follow them.
• Wear rubber gloves if you're cleaning up body fluids such as blood, vomit or feces, especially if you have cuts or scratches on your hands or if a family member has AIDS, hepatitis B, or another blood disease.
• Clean the surface thoroughly with soap and water or another cleaner.
• If you need to use a disinfectant, apply it to the area and let it stand for a few minutes so it has time to kill the most germs.
• Wipe the surface with paper towels that can be thrown away or cloth towels that can be washed afterwards.
• Store cleaners and disinfectants out of the reach of children.
• Even if you use gloves, wash your hands after cleaning or disinfecting surfaces.

Prepare Food Carefully
Careless food handling and improper cooking often set the stage for the growth of disease-causing organisms. Cross-contamination can occur when cutting boards and kitchen tools that have been used to prepare one contaminated food (such as raw chicken) are not cleaned before being used for another food (such as vegetables). Hot or cold foods left standing too long at room temperature provide an ideal climate in which bacteria can grow. The first rule of safe food preparation in the home is to keep everything clean - this applies to the areas where food is prepared and to the cook.

For complete information on this topic, see the HealthLink article How to Stop Food-Borne Illness before it Starts.

Get Your Vaccines
Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of people die every year from diseases that could have been prevented with available vaccines.

Today, there are vaccines that protect children and adults against 15 life-threatening or debilitating diseases. This has reduced cases of all vaccine-preventable diseases by more than 97% from peak levels before vaccines were available.

In developed countries like the US, we are fortunate to have these vaccines readily available to us. Still, not everyone benefits. Although most American children receive vaccines as part of their regular childhood health care visits, many adolescents and adults are under-immunized.

In the United States, 46,000 to 48,000 adults die every year from vaccine-preventable diseases such as influenza, pneumonia and hepatitis B.

Talk to your health care provider or check the most recent version of the CDC's Recommended Adult Vaccination Schedule to see if you're missing any vaccines that could help keep you healthy.

Keep Your Pets Healthy
Having pets should be fun and healthy for the animals and the humans. Be a responsible pet owner:

• Take your pets to a veterinarian care for regularly scheduled care, including shots and worm treatment. This reduces the chance that your pet could get sick and pass an infection to you or your family. Since veterinary care can be expensive, Humane Society or other animal shelters sometimes provide information about low-cost clinics.
• Don't allow pets to eat raw food or drink out of the toilet.
• Clean litter boxes daily and put the dirty litter in a plastic bag. To prevent infectious diseases that may cause birth defects, pregnant women should not change cat litter boxes. A child's sandbox can become a cat's litter box so cover it when not in use.
• Clean your pet's living area at least once a week. Bury feces or collect it in a plastic bag and put it in the trash.
• Areas that have been contaminated with dog or cat feces should be off-limits to children - not only at home but also in public areas such as parks or playgrounds. Toddlers naturally explore their environment, so teach them not to eat dirt.
• Wash your hands with soap and water after handling or cleaning up after animals, especially reptiles. Teach your children to do the same. This is also important after touching dirt because hookworms from animal feces in the soil can enter through your skin.

This article includes information from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Each year, Medical College of Wisconsin physicians care for more than 180,000 patients, representing nearly 500,000 patient visits. Medical College physicians practice at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, and many other hospitals and clinics in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin.