Prevention of giardiasis

Prevention of giardiasis is one of the key stages in ridding humanity of this unpleasant and dangerous “neighbor”.

Giardiasis is an invasion of protozoan genesis, that is, infection of the body with animal parasites, giardia.

A set of preventive measures aimed at identifying, isolating and eliminating the source of infection. Such preventive measures can be divided into two categories. This is the prevention of giardiasis at the social level and measures for individual protection of a person from such a parasitic invasion.

Social preventive measures include:

• High level of purification and filtration of drinking water in public institutions, kindergartens and schools, public places.
• Periodic parasitological monitoring of drinking water and water in public bathing areas: baths, saunas, swimming pools, beaches.
• Conducting control laboratory tests of the entire children's group with subsequent treatment of infected children in preschool and school institutions, as well as patients with pathological lesions of the gastrointestinal tract or immunodeficiency of various origins.
• Identification of those infected with giardia, especially among the decreed contingent, that is, persons requiring special attention from the state and society (women of childbearing age, pregnant women, children, teenagers).
• Mandatory parasitological monitoring of service personnel in public institutions: cooks, educators, teachers, etc.

Individual preventive measures include:

• Adequate and thorough processing of food products, if possible with boiling water or high temperatures.
• Strict adherence to basic rules of personal hygiene:
• Washing your hands with soap after going outside, before eating, after any physiologically natural processes. This simple preventive measure will significantly reduce the risk of contamination of your hands with various pathogenic bacteria and any other infection.

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Social preventive measures against giardiasis

Any preventive measures are designed to interrupt the process of transmission of a dangerous infection or pathogenic flora from an infected individual to a healthy person. In order to prevent mass epidemiological damage to the population by lambliasis, the relevant organizations carry out a number of measures designed to protect the environment from invasive contamination by dangerous aggressors:

• Disinfection of water bodies and soil in areas with maximum concentrations of people.
• Adequate purification of drinking water in populated areas.
• High-quality protection of treatment and sewage facilities.
• Monitoring factories and enterprises for compliance with all measures to protect and prevent discharges of waste and contaminated water directly into the environment, bypassing treatment facilities.
• Strict compliance and control over the implementation of sanitary and hygienic rules in medical and preventive institutions, schools and preschool institutions, and the public catering system is mandatory.
• Sanitary awareness plays an important role in preventing giardiasis. This especially applies to people who fall into the high-risk group:
  • Pregnant women.
  • Small children and teenagers.
  • Patients with pathology of the digestive tract.
  • People with weakened immune systems.
  • People, by the will of their professional activity or life credo, visiting regions with increased endemicity of parasitic diseases. It is worth noting that in such areas one should not eat thermally untreated food or water. Personal hygiene is also mandatory. This will reduce the likelihood of infection not only with giardiasis, but also with various other parasitic and infectious diseases.

Preventive procedures with subsequent recovery in case of giardiasis must include:

• Identification of individuals with giardiasis (active phase of the microorganism) and parasite carriers.
• Examination of relatives and people who have been in contact with the infected category of persons.
• Detection of the source of infection: in the home and family, kindergarten or the environment (drinking water, food, soil, pets).
• Therapeutic treatment of patients affected by giardiasis is drug therapy.
• Chemoprophylactic therapy of parasite carriers.
• Sanitary and parasitological monitoring in public catering establishments, medical facilities, children's institutions and other public places.
• Analysis and control of the incidence rate of children and adults.
• Increasing the level of medical awareness among various categories of the population.
• Conveying to people the idea of the need to improve the quality of personal hygiene.
• Control and explanation of the role of animals (including domestic ones) as an intermediate link in the invasion of parasites into the human body.
• Disinfection and sanitary-hygienic methods of influencing sources of transmission:
  • Fight against mosquitoes and flies.
  • Disinfection of premises with special preparations.
  • Thermal processing of products.
  • Boiling drinking water.
• Hygienic training of the decreed contingent, medical and service personnel.
• In light of the prevention of giardiasis, persons applying for jobs in food establishments and public organizations whose work is associated with constant contact with children and adults who fall into the risk group for giardiasis (and other parasitic and infectious pathologies) are required to undergo protozoological examination. If the situation with intestinal infection in the establishment worsens, it is worth including studies on protozoological lesions in the general clinical and diagnostic measures. When giardiasis is diagnosed in personnel, patients and carriers must be treated or sanitized.

Individual prevention of giardiasis

Who else but ourselves can protect ourselves from various parasitological attacks on our own body? But in light of the fact that a small person has not yet thoroughly mastered all the rules of personal hygiene, the percentage of infection of the body with giardiasis is much higher in this category of the population. And our direct responsibility as adults, and more experienced ones, is to teach the baby to protect himself from parasitic and infectious aggression. Although, as sad as it sounds, such "educational program" is necessary for many adults.

• It is necessary to develop the need to wash your hands with soap before every meal, after using the toilet or going outside, into a reflexive state.
• If there is no immediate opportunity to wash your hands, but this must be done, it is advisable to have a bottle of any antiseptic with you.
• If there is an animal in the house - a pet - after contact with it, it is also necessary to wash your hands with soap and water. This is especially true for those animals that go outside. Make sure that animals do not lick either an adult or a child.
• You can be calm only if your pet has been examined at a veterinary clinic and does not go outside. Although even in this case, infection cannot be 100% ruled out.
• Wash vegetables, fruits and eggs thoroughly with clean drinking water. Because it is from their surface that the "parasite" can enter the body. And children need to be taught that until a fruit or vegetable is thoroughly washed, it is not worth eating.
• Do not drink water directly from the tap or from open bodies of water.
• Prevention of giardiasis includes regular preventive examinations (tests) to detect parasitic infection, followed by an adequate course of treatment, which should be prescribed and supervised only by a qualified physician.
• If giardiasis is diagnosed in at least one family member, it is advisable for all relatives who have been in contact with the patient to undergo chemoprophylactic treatment.
• Not only hands should be clean, but also the room where a person lives and spends most of the time. This is especially true for children. A small person, exploring the world by touch, often puts his fingers in his mouth. Therefore, adults should take care of his protection. Protective measures include regular wet cleaning of the room, its ventilation, careful processing of the baby's tableware and toys.
• In the hot summer period it is quite difficult to resist the urge to swim in an open body of water, but it is worth remembering that it can simply teem with many different pathogenic microorganisms (this is especially true for stagnant water). Therefore, in the case of swimming and diving, it is necessary to ensure that water does not get into the mouth, much less swallow it. Doctors do not recommend parents to bathe their children in such bodies of water until they reach the age of five. This does not apply to sea water, since such microorganisms simply do not survive in it.
• Parents are obliged to instill personal hygiene skills in their children as early as possible.
• It is necessary to fight your bad habits and not to suppress their development in children. For example, the habit of biting nails, pencils or other objects. This seemingly harmless aspect can lead to re-infection with lamblia cysts. Therefore, if such provoking factors are not eliminated, any, even the most effective treatment will be useless.
• It is necessary not to discount the problem of eating out, especially for a baby. Parents have the legal right to familiarize themselves with the conditions of food preparation and the organization of the food itself in the children's institution that the child attends.
• With older children, it would not be superfluous to talk and give a personal example about such a popular phenomenon today as fast food. After all, it is no secret that, often, fast food outlets do not particularly care about the sanitary and hygienic standards of production of their products.
• Children should not be given too much pocket money, as it may be used to buy "goodies" in such establishments. If the school does not provide meals for schoolchildren, it is better to give the child food from home so that he does not go hungry. This generally applies to adults as well.
• Small children learn everything by touch and taste. Therefore, a sandbox is a big problem in preventing giardiasis. The risk of "picking up some kind of infection here" is quite high. After all, the squeak is like a magnet for stray dogs and cats, using it as a toilet. Hence the logical question: "Shouldn't a child be allowed to play in the sandbox?" No, such radical measures should not be taken. If possible, the sandbox simply needs to be covered with thick greenhouse film or oilcloth, securing it with slats on all sides. This must be done every time adults and children leave the playground. If this is not possible, it is necessary to be especially careful that the baby does not put anything in his mouth (neither hands nor toys).

But it is worth remembering that no matter what preventive measures are taken, the risk of disease cannot be completely excluded. Therefore, at any suspicion of pathology, it is necessary to send tests yourself and seek help from a doctor - a pediatrician with a child for his examination. After all, the earlier the parasite is detected, the less it has multiplied in the body.

Our health and our life are largely in our hands. Therefore, by observing these simple precautions, you can significantly reduce the risk of becoming infected with dangerous pathogenic flora (the possibility of contracting giardiasis is reduced by approximately 60% - a significant figure). Prevention of giardiasis is a real opportunity to feel safe and be confident in your own health.