How to protect yourself from intestinal infections. How to protect yourself from gastrointestinal infections while on vacation? How to protect yourself from intestinal infection
In the summer, the risk of contracting so-called intestinal infections increases.What kind of disease is this? The most common intestinal infectious diseases are dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever. They are caused by various pathogenic microbes, but have much in common both in the ways and means of infection, and in measures to protect against them.
Dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever occur when the pathogens of these diseases enter the mouth through the mouth. digestive tract, most often with contaminated food and water.
Under normal conditions, the source of intestinal infectious diseases is sick people. But you need to know that not only patients, but also people who have not yet shown signs of illness, the so-called bacteria carriers, can store pathogenic microbes and release them. Both the first and second pose a danger to those around them.
An infectious disease never begins immediately after infection. The disease makes itself felt some time after pathogenic microbes enter the human body. A certain period of time is necessary for microbes to adapt to new conditions of existence and for their reproduction. It is called the incubation (latent) period and is equal to 7 days for dysentery, 6 days for cholera, and 14 days for typhoid fever.
What are the signs of contracting these diseases? For dysentery and cholera, the main signs of the disease are an acute onset, accompanied by diarrhea, fever, general weakness, and chills. Particularly frequent bowel movements and vomiting are observed in cholera, which leads to severe and rapid loss body of water.
Typhoid fever begins gradually, with a slight malaise, fever, headache, abdominal pain, fever. The release of pathogenic microbes of intestinal infections occurs during external environment with feces, and in patients with cholera - with vomit.
The transmission of microbes to people, and therefore their infection, occurs most easily in conditions where sick people are among healthy people.
Acute intestinal infections more often occur where sanitary rules are grossly violated, where personal hygiene requirements are not observed, such as washing hands before eating and after using the toilet, when consuming unwashed vegetables and fruits, and water from random sources. Infection can occur through objects used by the patient (linen, dishes, sports equipment, cigarettes, etc.).
How to protect yourself from intestinal diseases? Measures to protect against cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever are available to everyone. Science, for example, has clearly established that cholera is powerless against people who constantly follow hygiene rules. In the conditions of military collectives there is every opportunity to comply with these rules. It is only necessary that every warrior fulfill them consciously. Meanwhile, sometimes you come across soldiers who drink water from the first water source they come across and are lazy before going out into the field on a hot summer day to fill a flask with boiled water. This cannot be tolerated.
Acute intestinal infections are sometimes called diseases of “dirty hands” - which means that hand cleanliness is one of the important requirements in the prevention of these diseases.
The Internal Service Charter contains sanitary and hygienic requirements for the accommodation of military personnel, the organization of food and water supply, the observance of personal hygiene rules by all soldiers and sergeants, and defines the responsibilities of commanders and superiors for preserving the health of military personnel. It’s not for nothing that they say: “Live according to the rules - you will be healthy.”
A responsible role is assigned to food service workers: the epidemic well-being of a unit can largely depend on the extent to which hygienic requirements are observed in the maintenance of kitchens and dining rooms, field supply points, technological rules for preparing food, its storage and transportation. It is necessary to organize thorough washing of dishes and boiling them or treating them with disinfectant solutions. We must not forget about the fight against flies, which can be carriers of pathogenic microbes on food, dishes, and kitchen utensils.
Units and subunits spend a significant part of their time in the field, but there cannot be any discounts in catering in these conditions.
High personal hygiene requirements must be imposed on cooks and other workers in kitchens, tea rooms, cafeterias, food warehouses and shops.
It should be noted great importance early detection and isolation of all patients. Every serviceman should know that if you feel unwell or have an intestinal disorder, you must consult a doctor or paramedic, since a sick person can serve as a source of infection for surrounding comrades. Anyone suspected of an infectious disease must be isolated. This is necessary not only in the interests of the patient, but also in the interests of the team.
The medical service of the unit is obliged to ensure constant medical examination of all those arriving at the unit from vacations and business trips before placing them in barracks, and in case of suspected illness or arrival from a disadvantaged area, subject them to isolation.
Prevention of acute intestinal diseases is a common concern of all military personnel, workers and employees Soviet army and the Navy.
In the summer, the risk of contracting so-called intestinal infections increases.
What kind of disease is this? The most common intestinal infectious diseases are dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever. They are caused by various pathogenic microbes, but have much in common both in the ways and means of infection, and in measures to protect against them.
Dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever occur when the causative agents of these diseases enter the digestive tract through the mouth, most often with contaminated food and water.
Under normal conditions, the source of intestinal infectious diseases is sick people. But you need to know that not only patients, but also people who have not yet shown signs of illness, the so-called bacteria carriers, can store pathogenic microbes and release them. Both the first and second pose a danger to those around them.
An infectious disease never begins immediately after infection. The disease makes itself felt some time after pathogenic microbes enter the human body. A certain period of time is necessary for microbes to adapt to new conditions of existence and for their reproduction. It is called the incubation (latent) period and is equal to 7 days for dysentery, 6 days for cholera, and 14 days for typhoid fever.
What are the signs of contracting these diseases? For dysentery and cholera, the main signs of the disease are an acute onset, accompanied by diarrhea, fever, general weakness, and chills. Particularly frequent bowel movements and vomiting are observed during cholera, which leads to a sharp and rapid loss of water by the body.
Typhoid fever begins gradually, with a slight malaise, fever, headache, abdominal pain, fever. The release of pathogenic microbes of intestinal infections occurs into the external environment with feces, and in patients with cholera - with vomit.
The transmission of microbes to people, and therefore their infection, occurs most easily in conditions where sick people are among healthy people.
Acute intestinal infections more often occur where sanitary rules are grossly violated, where personal hygiene requirements are not observed, such as washing hands before eating and after using the toilet, when consuming unwashed vegetables and fruits, and water from random sources. Infection can occur through objects used by the patient (linen, dishes, sports equipment, cigarettes, etc.).
How to protect yourself from intestinal diseases? Measures to protect against cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever are available to everyone. Science, for example, has clearly established that cholera is powerless against people who constantly follow hygiene rules. In the conditions of military collectives there is every opportunity to comply with these rules. It is only necessary that every warrior fulfill them consciously. Meanwhile, sometimes you come across soldiers who drink water from the first water source they come across and are lazy before going out into the field on a hot summer day to fill a flask with boiled water. This cannot be tolerated.
Acute intestinal infections are sometimes called diseases of “dirty hands” - which means that hand cleanliness is one of the important requirements in the prevention of these diseases.
The Internal Service Charter contains sanitary and hygienic requirements for the accommodation of military personnel, the organization of food and water supply, the observance of personal hygiene rules by all soldiers and sergeants, and defines the responsibilities of commanders and superiors for preserving the health of military personnel. It’s not for nothing that they say: “Live according to the rules - you will be healthy.”
A responsible role is assigned to food service workers: the epidemic well-being of a unit can largely depend on the extent to which hygienic requirements are observed in the maintenance of kitchens and dining rooms, field supply points, technological rules for preparing food, its storage and transportation. It is necessary to organize thorough washing of dishes and boiling them or treating them with disinfectant solutions. We must not forget about the fight against flies, which can be carriers of pathogenic microbes on food, dishes, and kitchen utensils.
Units and subunits spend a significant part of their time in the field, but there cannot be any discounts in catering in these conditions.
High personal hygiene requirements must be imposed on cooks and other workers in kitchens, tea rooms, cafeterias, food warehouses and shops.
It should be noted the great importance of early detection and isolation of all patients. Every serviceman should know that if you feel unwell or have an intestinal disorder, you must consult a doctor or paramedic, since a sick person can serve as a source of infection for surrounding comrades. Anyone suspected of an infectious disease must be isolated. This is necessary not only in the interests of the patient, but also in the interests of the team.
The medical service of the unit is obliged to ensure constant medical examination of all those arriving at the unit from vacations and business trips before placing them in barracks, and in case of suspected illness or arrival from a disadvantaged area, subject them to isolation.
Prevention of acute intestinal diseases is the common cause of all military personnel, workers and employees of the Soviet Army and Navy.
A person who has never had an intestinal infection simply does not exist, no matter what you read in the numerous current medical newspapers.
Billions of a wide variety of bacteria enter our bodies every day and hour, and nothing terrible happens - nature has invented too many ways to neutralize microbes. Saliva with bactericidal properties, poisonous gastric juice, a lot of our own, “good” bacteria in the intestines - all this prevents strangers from taking root and doing their dirty deed.
However, there is no person who has never had an intestinal infection. It does not exist because there are many ways to neutralize numerous protective forces - swallow without chewing so that saliva does not have time to reach the microbes, overeat, neutralize acidic gastric juice with alkaline drinks, kill your own microbes with antibiotics, etc.
Where do we find the infection?
The main cause of intestinal infections was, is and will be non-compliance with basic hygiene standards - improper storage of food, unwashed hands scurrying between dining table and flies in the toilet.
After entering the body, pathogens of intestinal infections begin to actively multiply, which leads, firstly, to disturbances in the digestive process and, secondly, to inflammation of the cells of the intestinal mucosa. The typical and most characteristic consequence of these two processes is the main symptom of any intestinal infection - diarrhea.
Other signs of the disease - nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, increased body temperature, lack of appetite, general weakness - are common, but are not obligatory accompaniments of intestinal infection.
By the way, it should be noted that at the household and medical level, the concepts of intestinal infection are very different. For ordinary person it is clear: if there is diarrhea, it means there is an intestinal infection, and for the doctor the main thing is not the symptoms, but the route of infection.
From a medical point of view, any disease transmitted through the mouth (with food, water, unwashed hands - the so-called fecal-oral route of infection) is a typical intestinal infection. The most significant example is viral hepatitis A (Botkin's disease). Infection with the virus always occurs when it enters the gastrointestinal tract, but the liver is affected, and in most cases there is no diarrhea.
The main thing is liquids and salts
You should always remember that the most terrible and dangerous consequence of any diarrhea is the loss of fluid and salts from the body. Without food, the human body can survive more or less safely for a couple of weeks, but without an adequate supply of water and salts of potassium, sodium, and calcium, a person cannot live: in this case, the clock counts.
The reserves of water and salts in the child’s body are especially small, and it is for children that intestinal infections pose a real threat to health and life.
Thus, the true severity of an intestinal infection is often determined not by the frequency of stool, not by the smell and color of stool, but by the degree of dehydration.
Only a doctor can determine the severity of an intestinal infection, but the likelihood that people will seek medical help for every diarrhea is very low. Therefore, we emphasize that regardless of what a specific intestinal infection is called, there are absolutely certain rules behavior of the patient and his relatives.
Rules to remember
1. Think about it - what did you eat or what did you feed your child if he had diarrhea? It's not so bad if it's your personal culinary masterpiece, but if it's a store-bought cake, you should be conscious and think about those who might follow in your footsteps. Finding out the phone number of the district sanitary station is not at all difficult.
2. An intestinal infection in any family member is an alarm for everyone. The patient should have separate dishes, the rest should wash their hands thoroughly, put suspicious products away from harm's way, boil all the dishes, and do not skimp on disinfectants.
3. Both diarrhea and vomiting are ways of protecting the body. In a simplified version, it looks like this: something wrong has entered the gastrointestinal tract and the body is trying to remove this nasty thing.
Therefore, in the first hours of an intestinal infection, we are not at all interested in stopping the diarrhea and vomiting. On the contrary, the body should be helped in both directions - drink and induce vomiting (and if you don’t want to, deliberately induce vomiting, thereby washing the stomach), cleanse the large intestine with an enema. For the enema, ordinary boiled water is used, not warm at all (the optimal temperature is about 20 C), be sure to ensure that all the injected liquid comes out.
4. Main principle help - replenishment of fluid and salt losses. Ideal for this purpose medicines, available in any pharmacy and representing a pre-prepared mixture of various salts. If the pharmacy is far away, they will do mineral water, decoctions of raisins, herbs, rose hips, dried fruit compote, maybe tea, better green than black. In the end, it is better to drink what you have on hand than to drink nothing.
5. The temperature of the drinks should be approximately equal to body temperature - in this case, the absorption of liquid from the stomach into the blood will be as fast as possible.
6. If vomiting persists, remember that you need to drink more often, but in small portions, so as not to stretch the stomach, and coordinate the use of antiemetic drugs with your doctor.
7. By and large, there are only two absolutely safe ways to independently treat intestinal infections - hunger and drinking plenty of fluids. Any medications can lead to the most unexpected consequences, well, perhaps smecta and Activated carbon are advisable and shown almost always.
8. The intensity of your worries should be related to general condition child, and not with how many times he soiled diapers (asked to use the potty, ran to the toilet). Monitor the color of your urine: if it is light, there is no fluid deficiency.
Microbes are the enemies of microbes
treatment
Therapy for intestinal infections does not involve swallowing everyone’s favorite phthalazole and chloramphenicol. Why?
If only because every third diarrhea is caused by viruses, on which antibacterial drugs have no effect at all.
However, even if it is a bacterium, the attitude towards use antibacterial drugs still ambiguous. Thus, for dysentery, antibiotics are almost always used, and for salmonellosis - much less often.
In any case, you can be treated in different ways. You can swallow antibiotics in an attempt to destroy harmful bacteria, and at the same time destroy all your E. coli, lactic acid bacteria and many other very beneficial microbes. Or you can do it differently - “launch” beneficial microbes into the intestines, which themselves will “drive out” the uninvited guest.
There are many such drugs, so-called eubiotics. It is not surprising that in case of intestinal infections, eubiotics are increasingly replacing antibiotics. And activated carbon is being replaced by the latest enterosorbents, which are more effective.
There is another way to combat pathogens of intestinal infections. The fact is that almost all bacteria have enemies - special viruses that infect bacteria. Such viruses are called bacteriophages, or simply phages. Preparations containing certain phages have already been developed and are being used: “salmonella bacteriophage” - for the treatment of salmonellosis, “dysentery bacteriophage” for the treatment of dysentery, etc.
In a hospital, the main way to provide care is infusion therapy- i.e. intravenous administration of fluids and salts to quickly replace losses.
With the most dangerous intestinal infection - cholera, infusion therapy is generally the most important. The causative agent of cholera produces an exotoxin (called cholerogens), which is located in the intestinal lumen, and therefore cannot be neutralized by serum.
Under the influence of cholerogens, the cells of the intestinal mucosa seem to shrink and lose fluid in liters! So we have to administer drugs intravenously in huge quantities and carry out very active treatment until antibodies to the toxin appear in the body.
Attention!
In these cases, consult your doctor immediately:
- the most worrying symptom of an intestinal infection is abdominal pain;
- due to persistent vomiting, you cannot give your child something to drink;
- no urine for more than 6 hours;
- dry tongue, sunken eyes;
- there is an admixture of blood in the stool;
- the diarrhea stopped, but the vomiting increased and (or) the body temperature rose sharply and (or) abdominal pain appeared.
When the condition improves, do not rush to feed the baby everything. Tea with low-fat cottage cheese, rice and oatmeal.
9 useful tips for health: how to protect yourself from intestinal infections.
Even in an average summer, doctors have to deal with a sharp increase in gastrointestinal diseases. What can we say about the current long, sweltering heat?
Crowds of people flock to the water, looking for relief from the heat, gobble up watermelons and ice cream by the hundredweight, relax on picnics, filling the surrounding area with the aromas of grilling barbecue, and have little idea of the turbulent life of invisible creatures happening around them.
Warm weather creates very comfortable conditions for the growth of all kinds of cocci, salmonella and other unpleasant creatures. Once in the human body, they can lead it to a deplorable state in a matter of hours.
1. To protect yourself from intestinal infections, pay attention to the water in which you are going to swim. We avoid unknown, untested rivers and lakes with suspicious water, and only lovers of extreme recreation can afford to splash in a pond if there is a sign on the shore that swimming is not recommended.
2. All purchased fruits and vegetables, regardless of external cleanliness, should be immediately thoroughly washed with running water and finally rinsed with boiled water for our own health. Cannot be placed in the refrigerator unwashed fruit, they are capable of contaminating all the food standing in it with microbes.
And under no circumstances should you buy melons from the roadsides, give in to the persuasion of the seller to cut the watermelon to make sure it is ripe, and in general it is better not to buy the first watermelons and melons, no matter how tempting they look. Be patient for a short time, the season of really ripe melons will come very soon. By the way, they will be cheaper, tastier and certainly safer.
3. When buying fruit, do not pay attention to the seller’s dissatisfaction, carefully inspect each grape, peach or pear - a dent that is invisible at first glance can cause serious poisoning.
4. Now we turn to lovers of barbecues. Any meat should be marinated for a long time in a cool place. Yes, according to the recipe, it is enough to marinate for several hours, but those who wrote these recipes did not even suspect that it could be so hot in Russia!
We leave marinades from mineral water, tomato juice or onions for the cold season, marinate only in an acidic environment! And in order to protect ourselves as much as possible, we keep the meat in the marinade for at least a day, and then carefully check how well it is fried. Let’s be merciless, no “Oh, it’s probably already ready inside, what a golden brown crust!”
5. The most delicious escape from the heat for adults and especially children is ice cream. Pay attention to appearance ice cream bar - if it has melted or lost its original shape, if there is a suspicion that it was re-frozen - without regret, refuse such a suspicious delicacy for the benefit of your health.
6. No matter how hungry you are, walk past fast food establishments, past kind grandmothers with pies and barkers with delicious shawarma, white meat and grilled chicken. Remember - poisoning from meat products is especially difficult.
7. Drink freshly boiled water or bottled water plastic bottles, which don’t need to be washed after the store.
8. Do not prepare food “in reserve”; in hot weather, even the refrigerator cannot cope with the proliferation of microbes. It is advisable to prepare a fresh portion before each meal, and if you have to put the borscht in the refrigerator, do not limit yourself to simply heating it before eating, be sure to boil it. Health is one thing.
9. Screens on the windows will help protect your home from flying insects. Remember from school course biology: an ordinary fly on its legs can carry how many microbes?…. Brrrrr….
Well, in general, there will be more than enough for you.
But if, nevertheless, for some reason, probably beyond your personal control, you felt unwell, if your temperature suddenly rose, you began to shiver, headache, weakness, abdominal pain, accompanied by nausea or vomiting, diarrhea - this means that intoxication of the body has begun, then we immediately contact the doctors.
In a situation where medical assistance is delayed, first aid would be useful: dissolve 2% soda or 0.1% potassium permanganate in a liter of warm water and try to swallow this solution, then induce vomiting in the old proven way - two fingers in the mouth. You can take a laxative or do an enema.
After the stomach has cleared, take activated charcoal, up to 10 tablets.
To prevent dehydration of the body after evacuation of the contents of the stomach, it is necessary to restore the water balance by drinking a warm, generous drink, for example, slightly sweetened tea, or better yet, a packet of rehydron per liter of water.
We hope that our tips will be useful to you and that the summer will leave you with only pleasant memories.
Don't get sick and be healthy!
Intestinal infections most often occur in the summer, since most of us try everything in the market or pick berries and vegetables from our own beds, forgetting about simple rules sanitation. And this is how intestinal infections enter the body - through the mouth, penetrate the intestines and develop into intestinal disease.But at any other time of the year, each of us can suffer from intestinal infections.
They often suffer from intestinal diseases. And not only because they put into their mouths everything that comes their way, but also because their immune system and gastrointestinal tract are imperfect and need to be strengthened.
All intestinal infections have general symptoms: diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, intestinal cramps, fever. And the nuances of the disease (such as, for example, the nature of abdominal pain) depend on what kind of infection has entered the body.
E.coli - Escherichia coli - the most famous inhabitant of our intestines. Most species of this stick live in it, not only not interfering, but also performing useful work. But about 150 species can cause intestinal and kidney problems.
Salmonella - the most common intestinal bacillus. Many people believe that you can get salmonellosis by eating raw chicken or eggs. In fact, salmonella (by the way, not all of them are dangerous for humans) can be found in meat, cow's milk, sausage, butter and fish, and if we talk about eggs, then the source of infection is not the contents of the egg itself, but its shell.
Shigella, ischerichia, rotavirus - not far full list other dangerous intestinal bacteria.
What can cause intestinal infections?
Raw (undercooked and undercooked) meat, contaminated water, as well as everything that is washed with this water, river and sea products that have been in contact with wastewater - all of this is the main source of intestinal infections.
Dangerous microorganisms or chemicals Products such as ice cubes, drinking water and unpasteurized milk may be contaminated.
Vegetables - such as salads and cabbage - can contain bacteria that are extremely difficult to remove.
If you leave finished products for several hours at room temperature, there is a risk of dangerous bacteria developing in them.
If food in stores, on shelves and in restaurants is not kept hot, frozen or chilled, then do not take it under any circumstances.
How to avoid contracting intestinal diseases?
Dangerous microorganisms can be found everywhere: in the soil, on animals, on people. It’s not for nothing that intestinal infections are called “the disease of dirty hands.” Infections are often transmitted through dirty hands. Therefore, the main rule of prevention is hand washing. Don't forget to wash your hands after visiting food markets, especially if you touched raw meat. You need to wash your hands not only after coming home from the street, or after using the toilet. You need to wash your hands before and after preparing food. And sometimes during the process of its preparation.
When buying groceries in stores, dining in restaurants, canteens or cafes, pay attention to the service. Cooked and raw foods should never be placed together.
Do not eat undercooked or uncooked foods, except for vegetables and fruits that can be peeled. It is dangerous to add or eat raw or undercooked eggs to dishes.
It definitely needs to be cleaned. If the skin of such products is damaged, it is better not to buy them, as toxic substances may accumulate in them.
It is necessary to thoroughly wash all dishes that contained raw foods.
It is good to wash dishes after eating.
Do not keep raw foods together with prepared foods. Products must be stored at appropriate temperatures.
Have different cutting boards and knives for raw foods and prepared foods.
Boil and fry meat and seafood.
Boil water or use bottled water.
Wash vegetables and fruits only with good prepared water.
Do not wash fruits and vegetables in ponds or in a garden barrel. Keep in mind that some bacteria lose their ability to reproduce only at temperatures below minus 5 degrees, while others live in both heat and cold.
If you do get an intestinal infection , the first thing to do is see a doctor instead of sitting in the toilet. This is especially important if there is blood in the stool. If a child or an elderly person falls ill, an ambulance should be called immediately , since in this category of people it is difficult for the body to cope with infection: in children, water reserves in the body are small, and in old people, the body is usually weakened. And intestinal diseases, as is known, lead to dehydration of the body.
Nutrition for intestinal infections
Of course, just being reminded of food during illness already leads to unpleasant reactions in the body. But you still need to eat. So what can you eat to support your body?
Firstly, you need to constantly drink to replenish the loss of electrolytes. The body does not have enough water, so special solutions are needed.
Secondly, while there are problems with stool, you need to follow a certain rule. Porridge with water (oatmeal or rice), crackers, lean meat broths with the addition of pureed meat, boiled and pureed vegetables, and steamed omelettes are allowed.
And one more question remains: how not to infect others if the sick person is at home?
The patient should have separate dishes for the entire period of illness.
The patient's dishes must be washed thoroughly.
The patient should wash their hands constantly.
Do not allow the patient to prepare food under any circumstances.
Along with the treatment and diet prescribed by the doctor, you can also use prescriptions traditional medicine(again, after consulting with your doctor).
So, an infusion made from raspberry leaves will help cope with intestinal upset.
Remedy for diarrhea: 2 tbsp. spoons of raspberry leaves pour 500 ml of boiling water and leave for 2 hours. Take the infusion 50-100 ml before meals 4 times a day.
2 tbsp. Brew tablespoons of dried blueberries with 2 cups of boiling water, leave for 2 hours. Take a quarter glass 5-6 times a day.
For disorders gastrointestinal tract In particular, a decoction of pomegranate peel helps with diarrhea.
Take care of yourself and your loved ones!
