Avoiding Sickness

From WikiBody - The Owner's Manual For Your Body

This page provides tips for avoiding mild sickness such as the common cold in everyday situations. Preventing specific diseases can be found on other pages, or may be beyond the scope of WikiBody.

If you follow the instructions on the rest of WikiBody, you should already be living healthier and have a reduced chance of sickness. However, there are other things you can do to avoid getting sick beyond simply living a healthier life.

[edit] Close encounters

Uncovered Sneezing Spreads Germs

There are over 200 viruses that can cause a cold, which are quickly spread through human contact. Human beings did not always pack themselves onto subways and buses together, crowded restaurants, and stuffy cubicles like you do. These present specific risks when it comes to spreading germs.

[edit] In the workplace

Wash your hands frequently. Colds are generally caused by viruses, which persist on fomites, or objects capable of carrying infectious organisms. These include your computer keyboard, shared equipment like copy machines (and especially shared telephones), and objects in the break room, where your co-workers may absent-mindedly stick their fingers in their mouths. There are so many objects you can’t always keep clean, and can’t avoid touching, keeping your own hands free from germs is an easy way to limit how many of them get into your system.
Avoid the close-talkers! Lots of germs can be in every drop of saliva, so if you can’t entirely avoid the local close-talker, politely ask him/her to say it, not spray it.
Take it easy. Stress and Sleep deprivation undermine your Immune System’s ability to respond to invading germs. Some work environments discourage employees from taking time off for illness, but this can increase the spread of sickness among employees, especially in a high-stress profession. Recognizing when stress and sleep deprivation are affecting you is the first step to making sure they don’t increase your likelihood to get sick if exposed to germs.

[edit] At school

Hands out of mouths! Hands can put germs from dirty objects into a healthy mouth, and can put cold germs from a sick mouth onto a clean object.
Young children are exposed to a number of sicknesses that generally aren’t spread among adults, such as head lice and pinworms.
Dress well for the weather. A school day includes time in different classrooms (which may be heated or air conditioned) and time outside on the playground, engaging in physical activity. Being too cold or too hot can weaken a child’s defenses against sickness. Know your children’s environment and give them all the right clothes to stay the right temperature as they go through their activities.

[edit] On an airplane

Breathe through your nose. For one, the thousands of tiny hairs in your nose are designed to filter out dust and particles which might carry germs before they land in your throat and airways.
Stay wet! The second benefit of breathing through your nose is that airplane air, being filtered and recirculated, is very dry. That dry air, taken directly into your mouth and throat, can start to dry out all that mucus and saliva your body uses as a barrier against germs. Same goes for tears — if you get dry eyes, be sure to bring a small container of eyedrops. Fight these effects of dehydration by drinking enough water before and during the flight.
Get up and move around. Research has shown an association between staying seated on long flights and problems like deep vein thrombosis, but standing up and stretching can also help stave off jet-lag, which interferes with your body’s natural sleep patterns, and can help you breathe normally and avoid congestion, or a buildup of thick mucus which doesn’t move normally, which sometimes allows germs to take root in your nose and lungs after the flight.
Speak up! Be aware of the people around you, and don’t be afraid to talk to them or a flight attendant. If someone next to you has a cold and can’t stop coughing and sneezing, go ahead and ask the flight attendant if there are empty seats available that you could move to. Likewise, if someone has a dog or cat in a carrier that you’re allergic to, your allergy can cause congestion or breathing difficulty, which could increase your chances of getting sick if exposed to cold germs. If the person next to you removes their shoes and puts their feet all over yours, or picks their nose and rubs the armrest, you can politely let them know they are increasing the number of germs in your personal space!
Leave it to the professionals. If you encounter anything involving other people’s body products (for example, someone has left a vomit bag in the seat pocket, or a fellow traveler makes a mess in the bathroom), steer clear. Call the flight attendant, who is trained in handling contaminated objects, and probably has special equipment like rubber gloves and industrial-strength cleaners to prevent their own exposure.

[edit] At home

[edit] Handling body products

Especially in a household with young children, you will find yourself face to face with lots of substances that have come out of one end or the other of a human being. Feces, urine, vomit, and mucus can all contain germs related to their source: feces and vomit can carry germs which cause foodborne illness; while urine is typically a very clean substance, a person with a bacterial urinary tract infection may release some of these bacteria with their urine; mucus from the nose and mouth often contains the germs behind the person’s headcold or respiratory tract infection.

Keep a pair of rubber gloves in the house at all times, to keep you clean if you have a large mess.
Keep bleach in the house, since it annihilates germs of almost kinds.
Wash you hands and arms thoroughly after handing a body product before touching food.

[edit] At the pool

Swimming pools allow certain germs to be spread directly from one person to another through the water that would otherwise be hard to transmit, because they dry out in a short amount of time. Also, especially in the case of children, the water might come in direct contact with their body products (e.g., if they did not wipe well in the bathroom), as well as their mouths. The chlorine additives put in pool water kills most germs, but if there is not enough chlorine, or too many germs, some of them may survive.

Chlorine, while good for killing germs, can also irritate your skin and mucus membranes, making them less effective barriers against germs.
Shower when you’re done. Rinsing the potentially contaminated pool water off your skin makes it less likely that germs will get into your eyes, nose, ears, mouth, or urinary tract after the fact, and takes away the opportunity of bacteria to multiply on your skin or bathing suit.
Especially for women: Never sit in puddles of pool water! Because of the structure of the female genitalia and urinary tract, it is somewhat more susceptible to invasion by bacteria. Standing puddles of water alongside pools are an environment where bacteria may have overwhelmed the chlorine, making them risky place to put your urinary tract!
Ear infections can result from allowing pool water to stay in your ear canals. Some of us have a geometry to our ears that enables prompt drainage, while others are more susceptible to persistent moisture and resulting bacterial infection, called Swimmer’s Ear. If your ears are prone to draining poorly, dropping in a few drops of 1:1 rubbing alcohol and vinegar[1] can help speed the evaporation of water and prevent bacterial invasion of the ear tissue.

[edit] Outdoors – parasites, insect bites, and dirt

There’s a lot of germs out there. Don’t eat plants you don’t recognize — they might make you sick because of poisons they contain, or because of germs: many plants have symbiotic relationships with bacteria or fungi that work out well for them, but badly for a person who tries to eat them. You may be eating something you can’t see, or don’t recognize!
Dirt contains living things from the microscopic to worms you can hold in your hand. Most of them won’t make you sick, and most of them couldn’t even try if they landed on your skin, because your skin barrier is so good. That said, the surfaces inside your mouth and eyes are much more delicate, and it’s always good to clean your hands before handling food or touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, because not everything that lives in the dirt is friendly.
Many parasites and germs are spread through insect bites, which puncture your skin, which is your most important barrier! No matter how tough you think you are, avoid insect bites, using a repellant spray on yourself, and a space-repellant (such as a citronella candle) around your camp site. Keep your food and anything perishable or that smells good tightly sealed. Even if there are no bears, lots of smaller opportunists may catch a whiff and want a bite, and may take a bite of you while they’re at it!
If you get an insect bite, don’t scratch it! Scratching not only damages your skin even further, allowing any old germ passing by to invade, but insects themselves are known to carry bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites on their bodies, which may have been transferred onto your skin. Scratching will drive these all the way into your skin, potentially causing an infection.

[edit] Food safety

[edit] Spoilage vs. Food poisoning

Food spoilage happens when a microorganism eats your food before you do. An example you can see easily is when certain bacteria digest your milk: the by-product is acidic, which makes what’s left of the milk curdle. Not all microorganisms that will eat your food are dangerous to you — for instance, bacteria similar to the ones that curdle your milk are used to make yogurt. These are still alive and well in your yogurt when you buy it and eat it. Other bacteria are used to make sauerkraut and kimchi, while fungi are used to make blue cheese and soy sauce. Not all of these effects are desirable, as in the case of curdled milk, which doesn’t always contain harmful germs, it’s just no good to drink anymore.
Some microorganisms that grow on food will make you sick, causing food poisoning. This happens one of two ways:
- The germs (usually bacteria or parasites) try to infect your body through your digestive system. Some attack when they’re in your stomach, some attack once they’ve made it to your intestines. This kind of food poisoning can be particularly dangerous, because a live germ may spread throughout your body as a result. Medical attention is usually required. Thoroughly cooking food at the proper temperature[2] usually kills such germs before you eat them.
- The germs which were living and multiplying in food made a toxin which makes you feel sick. Food poisoning of this type is common when cooked food has been improperly stored (e.g., rice or buffet trays not kept at a high enough termperature), allowing bacteria to grow. Although your stomach acid kills the bacteria themselves, the toxins they left on your food can affect your intestines, giving your cramps and diarrhea. This type of food poisoning does not usually require medical attention and goes away after a day or two.

[edit] Dirty Water

If you go abroad, you may be unsure whether the drinking water is clean, or if it has been exposed to dirt or human body products. Waterborne bacteria and parasites can cause diarrhea, or more complicated illnesses that require medical attention. To avoid these sicknesses, here are a few tips for safe eating and drinking.

B.Y.O. — If you’re on a short trip and can bring your own bottles water for drinking and brushing your teeth, do it! Better safe than sorry.
Boiling kills most germs. If you see your water being boiled, it is likely safe to drink.
Be aware of everything water touches! Water isn’t just its own beverage — it’s used to wash the produce in your salad, added to pudding and soup, and to make some other beverages. Find out how your food is prepared, and if it’s touched unclean water, don’t eat it.

References: Swimmer's Ear, Food Safety Temperature Chart

[edit] Common sense

[edit] Wash Your Hands

Washing your hands kills germs and helps to prevent the spread of germs. Use soap and water, and if that's not available, use an alcohol based disinfectant. Wash your hands for 20 seconds or more. When you should wash your hands:

Before preparing or eating food
After going to the bathroom
After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has gone to the bathroom
Before and after tending to someone who is sick
After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
After handling an animal or animal waste
After handling garbage
Before and after treating a cut or wound

[edit] See Also

Source: Centers for Disease Control