Summer floods are frequent, what health problems should be paid attention to after disasters? Check out this Flood Health Guide.
Due to the flooding and damage to drinking water facilities and water sources, as well as the impact on food storage, processing conditions and sources, there are hidden dangers in food safety and drinking water safety in the disaster area, which can easily lead to the epidemic of intestinal infectious diseases.
Intestinal infectious diseases are diseases transmitted orally, which can cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea and other diseases of the organ and systemic involvement. Common intestinal infectious diseases after floods include cholera, bacterial dysentery, typhoid and paratyphoid fever, and diarrheal diseases caused by bacterial infections such as Vibrio parahaemolytica, salmonella, pathogenic Escherichia coli, Yersinia, Campylobacter jejuni, as well as viral diarrhea caused by rotavirus, enteroadenovirus, calicivirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis E, hand, foot and mouth disease and other intestinal infectious diseases.
Here comes the point! If you want to effectively prevent and control the spread of intestinal infectious diseases and ensure the health and safety of yourself and your family, pay attention to these aspects!
1. Prevent "disease from entering the mouth"
1. Strengthen the management of garbage, excrement and sewage. Teach children not to defecate in the open. Families carry out fly and cockroach control activities.
2. Ensure food hygiene and do not eat any food contaminated by floods. All food should be thoroughly heated and cooked, and leftovers should be thoroughly heated again before the next consumption; Do not eat unsteamed food, except for peelable fruits, shelled dried fruits, etc.; Raw vegetables and melons should be cleaned, do not eat spoiled and rotten food, regularly disinfect tableware, store cooked food properly, and prevent contamination by flies and the like.
3. Ensure the safety of drinking water, avoid drinking untreated water, all drinking water should be boiled and drunk, and the water cup and other water containers should be cleaned and disinfected in time. Bottled water is recommended during flood damage.
4. Pay attention to personal hygiene. Wash your hands before eating and immediately after using the toilet. Keep your nails the right length and your clothes clean and tidy. In particular, those working in the restaurant industry such as cafeterias need to pay attention to personal hygiene and undergo regular medical examinations.
5. Enhance the body's resistance. Rest regularly every day and pay attention to exercise.
6. Seek medical attention in time: If there is stomach pain, bloating, dizziness, headache or other digestive problems, go to a nearby hospital for examination as soon as possible to avoid delaying the progression of the disease.
Second, do a good job of cleaning and disinfecting the home environment
1. Air: In order to ensure indoor air quality, it is best to use natural ventilation, but if the indoor ventilation conditions are not good, you can consider using mechanical ventilation. It is not recommended to spray or fumigate indoor air with chemical disinfectants, and outdoor spaces do not need to be disinfected.
2. Floor, wall: Thoroughly clean the flooded wall or ground. After the cleaning work is completed, it also needs to be disinfected. A chlorine-containing disinfectant containing 500mg/L of effective chlorine can be used to spray or wipe the walls and floors for disinfection, and the disinfection time is 30min.
3. Transportation: After cleaning the dirt of private cars and other vehicles, it is necessary to spray or wipe and disinfect the vehicle shell and internal objects (such as the driver's steering wheel, body wall, tables and chairs, armrests, etc.) with 500 mg/L chlorine-containing disinfectant, use 30 min, and then wash it thoroughly with clean water.
4. Furniture, etc.: After thorough cleaning, you can use a chlorine-containing disinfectant with an effective concentration of 500 mg/L to wipe, soak or spray for disinfection, and the action time is 30min. It can also be disinfected with 1000 mg/L peracetic acid, 200 mg/L chlorine dioxide, 1000 mg/L quaternary ammonium salt disinfectant, the disinfection action time is 30min, and then rinsed and wiped clean thoroughly with water. Other daily necessities and children's toys can be sprayed, wiped, rinsed, soaked and disinfected in the same way.
5. Tableware (drinking): It is recommended to put the tableware into a pot to boil and disinfect, and the boiling time is not less than 15 minutes. It can also be disinfected by soaking chlorine-containing disinfectant, which can be soaked in 250mg/L~500mg/L chlorine-containing disinfectant for 30 minutes, and then thoroughly washed with water.
6. Clothes, bedding, etc.: For flood-contaminated clothes, bedding and other fabrics, they can be treated as general garbage. If continued use is required, it must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, including flow steam disinfection, boiling disinfection, or soaking 500 mg/L chlorine-containing disinfectant for 30 minutes and then cleaning.
7. Garbage and feces: General household garbage and feces can be cleaned up in time, and do not need to be disinfected. Garbage containing spoilage can be sprayed and disinfected with effective chlorine 5000mg/L~10000 mg/L chlorine-containing disinfectant, and the action time is 60 min before being collected and thrown into the garbage can. Potentially contaminated feces can be disinfected with 50 grams of bleach powder per 2 liters of manure, or mixed in the same proportion as a chlorine-containing disinfectant solution with an effective chlorine of 20,000 mg/L and left for 2 hours.
8. Hands and skin: After completing the cleaning and disinfection of the environment in the disaster area, the hands must be thoroughly disinfected, and the hands can be repeatedly rubbed with an effective hand disinfection machine. If the hands are red, swollen and damaged due to flooding, they need to go to the hospital for disposal, or they can be disinfected with jier iodine or 75% alcohol or 0.5% iodine solution.
Third, do a good job of personal protection in daily life
Do not enter rivers, ponds and other places where infectious diseases are high, such as playing, laundry, swimming, or coexisting with animals carrying the virus. If you need to work in the water, you should do personal protection.
4. Disinfect the excreta, vomit and daily necessities of patients with intestinal infectious diseases
The patient's feces and vomit may contain a large number of pathogens, and their diet, food scraps, underwear, supplies, etc. may also be contaminated by pathogens, and these items must be disinfected, common disinfection methods are:
1. Boiling disinfection: It can effectively kill bacteria, viruses, bacteria and parasites on food, drinks, clothing, leftovers and other items, usually boiling for 20 minutes to achieve the best effect.
2. Chlorine-containing disinfectant disinfection: every morning and evening, use 500mg/L disinfectant to wipe furniture, desktops, doorknobs and other high-touch parts, or spray soaking and wiping daily necessities used by diarrhea patients.
3. Bleach powder disinfection: mix the bleach powder and feces or patient vomit in a ratio of 1:5, put it in a container and keep it at room temperature for 2 hours; Urine disinfection can be done with 5 grams of bleach powder per liter of urine at room temperature for 10 minutes; Containers for urine and vomit, such as bedpans, can be disinfected by soaking 1%-3% bleach powder solution for one hour.
4. Lime disinfection: one part of lime can be mixed with five parts of water to make lime milk, and each liter of feces is soaked in 2 liters of lime milk for 2 hours to achieve the purpose of disinfection.
5. Sun disinfection: exposure to sunlight for 3~6 hours can effectively destroy bacteria or viruses on clothing, furniture and other items.
In the process of cleaning and disinfection, effective, economical, safe and environmentally friendly disinfection technology should be adopted, and effective disinfection methods should be taken according to the pollution object and possible pathogens.
It is recommended to give preference to chlorine-containing disinfectants, and require that the disinfectants comply with national standards or norms within the validity period. The disinfection process should strictly follow the instructions in the instructions for use of the disinfectant.
It should be noted that chlorine-containing disinfectants cannot be ingested, cannot be used to disinfect fruits and vegetables and other foods, and tableware, etc. must be rinsed with clean water after soaking and disinfecting with chlorine-containing disinfectants. In addition, chlorine-containing disinfectants may cause health problems such as skin and mucous membrane irritation, so when using disinfectants, pay attention to personal protection, accidentally splash on the skin, and immediately rinse with water; If splashed into the eyes, rinse immediately with normal saline or distilled water repeatedly, and seek medical attention if there is any discomfort. When handling items that are not corrosion-resistant, the time of disinfection should be strictly controlled, and the disinfectant residue on the surface of the object should be removed immediately after the disinfection is completed.
During the epidemic of intestinal infectious diseases, in order to prevent the spread of diseases, it is recommended that everyone do not participate in the "big banquet", once diarrhea symptoms appear, they should immediately seek medical attention, and actively cooperate with the epidemic investigation and disinfection work.
Finally, teach you how to prepare chlorine-containing disinfectants:
1. Take the disinfection bucket of the required capacity, contain tap water, and the water temperature is controlled at 25-30 °C.
2. Take the prescribed amount of Shuokang disinfection tablets, stir until dissolved, and cover the barrel lid.
3. During use, pay attention to cover the barrel lid to avoid splashing out of the disinfectant.
4. The chlorine-containing disinfectant should be used and prepared now, and the validity period is 24 hours.
Reference Documents:
"Scientific and technological guidelines for the prevention and control of common digestive tract infectious diseases in flood natural disasters", 2016
Guidelines for Preventive Disinfection in Flood-stricken Areas 2021
The authors: Wang Guifang and Cui Xuan, are the attending physicians and deputy directors of the infection control department of Beijing You'an You'an Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, respectively
Source: Guangming Web