Prevention of Giardiasis

Prevention of Giardiasis is one of the key stages in getting rid of humanity from this unpleasant and dangerous "neighbor".

Giardiasis is an invasion of protozoal genesis, that is, infection of the body with animal parasites, lamblias.

A set of preventive measures is 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 of a social level and measures of individual protection of a person against such parasitic infestation.

Social preventive measures include:

• High level of purification and filtration of drinking water in public institutions, kindergartens and schools, public places.
• Periodic parasitological control of drinking water and water in places of public bathing: baths, saunas, swimming pools, beaches.
• Conducting control laboratory studies of the entire children's collective with the subsequent treatment of infected infants in preschool and school institutions, as well as patients with pathological lesions of the gastrointestinal tract or immunodeficiency of various genesis.
• Identification of those infected with Giardia, especially among the decreed contingent, that is, individuals requiring special attention of the state and society (women of childbearing age, pregnant women, children, adolescents).
• Mandatory parasitological monitoring of the attendants of public institutions: cooks, educators, teachers and so on.

Individual preventive measures include:

• Adequate and careful treatment of food products, whenever possible with boiling water or high temperatures.
• Scrupulous implementation of the basic rules of personal hygiene:
• Washing hands with soap after any exit to the street, before eating, after any physiologically natural processes. This simple protective measure will significantly reduce the risk of contamination of hands by various pathogenic bacteria and any other infection.

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Social preventive measures of giardiasis

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

• Disinfection of reservoirs and soil in the area of maximum accumulation of people.
• Adequate purification of drinking water in populated areas.
• Quality protection of sewage treatment plants.
• Monitoring of factories and enterprises for the implementation of all measures to protect and prevent emissions of sewage and contaminated water directly into the environment, bypassing treatment facilities.
• It is mandatory to strictly observe, and monitor the implementation of sanitary and hygienic rules in medical and preventive institutions, school and preschool institutions, public catering.
• Not the last place in the prevention of giardiasis takes sanitary familiarization. Especially it concerns people who fall into the group of high risk:
  • Pregnant.
  • Young children and teenagers.
  • Patients with pathology of the digestive tract.
  • Persons with weakened immunity.
  • People, by the will of their professional activities or life credo, visiting regions with high endemicity for parasitic diseases. It is worth noting that in such territories it is not necessary to eat thermally unprocessed food or water. Required and personal hygiene. This will reduce the likelihood of infection not only with Giardiasis, but also with various other parasitic and infectious diseases.

Preventative procedures with subsequent recovery in the case of Giardiasis are obliged to provide for:

• Identification of patients with giardiasis (active phase of the microorganism) and parasite carriers.
• Survey of loved ones and people in contact with the infected category.
• Detection of the source of infection: in the home and family, kindergarten or the environment (drinking water, food, soil, domestic animals).
• Therapeutic treatment of patients affected by giardiasis - drug therapy.
• Chemopreventive therapy of parasite carriers.
• Sanitary and parasitological monitoring in catering organizations, in medical facilities, in children's institutions and other public places.
• Analysis and control of the incidence of children and adults.
• Increase the level of medical awareness of various categories of the population.
• Reporting to people the idea of the need to improve the quality of personal hygiene.
• Control and explanation of the role of animals (and domestic, including) in the role of an intermediate link in the invasion of parasites into the human body.
• Disinfection and sanitary-hygienic methods of influence on transmission sources:
  • Fighting mosquitoes and flies.
  • Disinfection of premises with special preparations.
  • Heat treatment of products.
  • Boiling of drinking water.
• Hygienic training of the decreed contingent, medical and attendants.
• In the light of the prevention of giardiasis, persons who are registered for work in food establishments and public organizations whose work is associated with a constant contact with children and adults who are at risk of giardiasis (and other parasitic and infectious pathologies) must undergo a protozoological examination. With a worsening of the situation for intestinal infection in the institution, it is worthwhile to include in the general clinical and diagnostic activities and studies on protozoological damage. When diagnosing the staff of giardiasis, patients and carriers need to be treated or sanitized.

Individual prevention of giardiasis

Who as not we ourselves are able to protect ourselves from all sorts of parasitological encroachments on our own organism. But in the light of the fact that the little man has not yet mastered all the rules of personal hygiene, the percentage of defeat of the organism with giardiasis is much higher in this category of the population. And our direct duty as adults, and more experienced, to teach the baby to defend himself against parasitic and infectious aggression. Although, as unfortunate as it sounds, such an "illiteracy" is necessary for many adults.

• It is necessary to bring to the reflex level the need to wash hands with soap before each meal, after going to the toilet or street.
• If you do not immediately have the opportunity to wash your hands, and this is necessary, you should have a bottle of any antiseptic in this case.
• If there is an animal in the house - a pet - after contact with it, it is also necessary to treat hands with water and soap. Especially this applies to those animals that visit the street. Ensure that animals do not lick the adult or the baby.
• Calm you can only be if your pet has been examined in a veterinary clinic and does not happen on the street. Although in this case it is impossible to exclude infection 100%.
• Thoroughly wash vegetables, fruits and eggs with clean drinking water. Lead exactly from their surface "parasite" is able to get inside the body. And children need to be persuaded that while a fruit or vegetable is not well washed, it should not be eaten.
• Do not drink water directly from the tap or from open water.
• Prophylaxis of giardiasis is regular preventive examinations (delivery of tests) for the detection of parasitic infection followed by an adequate course of treatment, which should be prescribed and supervised only by a qualified doctor.
• If lambliasis is diagnosed at least from one of the family members, it is advisable to pass the chemoprophylactic treatment to all relatives who have been in contact with the patient.
• Clean should be not only hands, but also the room where a person lives and is most of the time. Especially it concerns children. A little man, knowing the world to the touch, often pulls his fingers in his mouth. Therefore, adults must take care of its protection. Including the protective measures can be attributed to the regular wet cleaning of the room, its ventilation, careful processing of tableware and toys of the baby.
• In the hot summer period, it's hard enough to hold back not to bathe in an open reservoir, but it's worth remembering that it can just swarm with a variety of different pathogens (especially with standing water). Therefore, in the case of swimming and diving, you must ensure that water does not enter your mouth, especially when you do not swallow it. Doctors do not recommend parents to bathe their babies in such reservoirs until they reach the age of five. This does not apply to seawater, since in it such microorganisms simply do not survive.
• Parents are obliged as early as possible to instill in their children personal hygiene skills.
• It is necessary to fight with their bad habits and not to stop their development in toddlers. For example, the habit of gnawing nails, pencils or other objects. This seemingly innocuous aspect, can lead to a repeated infection with cysts lamblia. Therefore, if you do not eliminate such provocative factors, any, even the most effective treatment will be useless.
• It is necessary not to discount the problem of nutrition outside the home, especially for the baby. Parents have the legal right to familiarize themselves with the conditions of cooking and organizing the food in the child's institution that the child visits.
• With older children, it will not be superfluous to have a conversation and a personal example, about such a popular phenomenon today as fast food. After all, not for anyone, it's not a secret that, often, fast food outlets do not particularly care about the sanitary and hygienic norms for the production of their trade products.
• Children should not be supplied with too much pocket money, they can go to buy "yummies" in such institutions. If the school does not provide meals for schoolchildren, it is better for the child to give food from home so that he does not go hungry. This, in general, applies to adults.
• Little children learn everything to the touch and taste. Therefore, a big problem in the prevention of Giardiasis is the sandbox. The risk of "picking up some kind of infection here" is big enough. After all, the spike as a magnet attracts stray dogs and cats using it as a toilet. Hence a logical question emerges: "A child should not 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 a dense greenhouse film or oilcloth, fixing on all sides with slats. This must be done whenever adults and children leave the playground. If this is not possible, you must pay special attention to the baby not to pull anything into his mouth (neither hands nor toys).

But it is also worth remembering that no matter what preventive measures are taken, the risk of the disease can not be completely excluded. Therefore, for any appearance of a suspicion of pathology, it is necessary to send the tests themselves and seek help from a pediatrician with a child for examination. After all, the earlier a parasite was found, the less it multiplied in the body.

Our health and our life, in many ways, are in our hands. Therefore, observing these simple precautions, it is possible to significantly reduce the risk of contracting a dangerous pathogenic flora (the possibility of lesion with 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.