Personal health Bringing good hygiene home

Abstract

‘‘Hygiene’’ refers to conditions or practices by which people maintain or promote good health by keeping themselves and their surroundings clean. Even in our contemporary society, good hygiene practices continue to be the primary disease-prevention strategy. As described earlier, hygiene is one of the silent victories of public health. This article focuses on hygiene in the newest frontier of disease prevention—the 21st-century home. Do personal hygiene and household cleanliness practices affect the risk of spreading infectious disease? In this article, we’ll review the ‘‘hygiene barrier’’ concept and the range of hygiene needs within the home environment, and discuss diseasecausing microbes—their sources, how they spread, and how their transmission can be controlled by proper personal hygiene and household cleaning practices. This information offers a framework for developing practical home strategies to manage risk from infections. THE HYGIENE BARRIER A ‘‘hygiene barrier’’ gives us the freedom to experience our lives and do so without the impediments of debilitating diseases or the tragedy of premature death. It is a direct result of the innovations brought about by the health and sanitary revolutions that have swept regions of the world. Through the combined benefits of improved food and water quality and home and personal cleaning practices, the hygienic quality of our environment dramatically reduces routine exposures to pathogenic microorganisms. This reduction in pathogen exposure results in dramatic reductions in infectious diseases and premature death. As is the case with most societal breakthroughs, many people in developed countries have grown to accept reduced rates of illness as the norm, and outbreaks that once would have been accepted as an unavoidable part of life are now viewed as crises of public health requiring swift and decisive interventions.