Washing one's hands,[1] a form of hygiene, is the most effective way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases."[2]Personal hygiene refers to maintaining the body's cleanliness. Hygiene activities can be grouped into the following: home and everyday hygiene, personal hygiene, medical hygiene, sleep hygiene, and food hygiene. Home and every day hygiene includes hand washing, respiratory hygiene, food hygiene at home, hygiene in the kitchen, hygiene in the bathroom, laundry hygiene, and medical hygiene at home.
Many people equate hygiene with "cleanliness", but hygiene is a broad term. It includes such personal habit choices as how frequently to take a shower or bath, wash hands, trim fingernails, and wash clothes. It also includes attention to keeping surfaces in the home and workplace clean, including bathroom facilities. Adherence to regular hygiene practices is often regarded as a socially responsible and respectable behavior, while neglecting proper hygiene can be perceived as unclean or unsanitary, and may be considered socially unacceptable or disrespectful, while also posing a risk to public health.
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Definition and overview
Hygiene is a practice[3] related to lifestyle, cleanliness, health, and medicine. In medicine and everyday life, hygiene practices are preventive measures that reduce the incidence and spread of germs leading to disease.[4]
Hygiene practices vary from one culture to another.[5]
In the manufacturing of food,[6] pharmaceuticals,[7] cosmetics,[8] and other products, good hygiene is a critical component of quality assurance.
The terms cleanliness and hygiene are often used interchangeably, which can cause confusion. In general, hygiene refers to practices that prevent spread of disease-causing organisms. Cleaning processes (e.g., handwashing[1]) remove infectious microbes as well as dirt and soil, and are thus often the means to achieve hygiene.
Home hygiene pertains to the hygiene practices that prevent or minimize the spread of disease at home and other everyday settings such as social settings, public transport, the workplace, public places, and more. Hygiene in a variety of settings plays an important role in preventing the spread of infectious diseases.[9] It includes procedures like hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, food and water hygiene, general home hygiene (hygiene of environmental sites and surfaces), care of domestic animals, and home health care (the care of those who are at greater risk of infection).[10]
At present, these components of hygiene tend to be regarded as separate issues, although based on the same underlying microbiological principles. Preventing the spread of diseases means breaking the chain of infection transmission so that infection cannot spread. "Targeted hygiene" is based on identifying the routes of pathogen spread in the home and introducing hygiene practices at critical times to break the chain of infection.[11] It uses a risk-based approach based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).[12]
The main sources of infection in the home are people (who are carriers or are infected), foods (particularly raw foods), water, pets, and domestic animals.[13] Sites that accumulate stagnant water – such as sinks, toilets, waste pipes, cleaning tools, and face cloths – readily support microbial growth and can become secondary reservoirs of infection, though species are mostly those that threaten "at risk" groups. Pathogens (such as potentially infectious bacteria and viruses – colloquially called "germs") are constantly shed via mucous membranes, feces, vomit, skin scales, and other means. When circumstances combine, people are exposed, either directly or via food or water, and can develop an infection.[14]
The main "highways" for the spread of pathogens in the home are the hands, hand and food contact surfaces, and cleaning cloths and utensils (e.g. fecal–oral route of transmission). Pathogens can also be spread via clothing and household linens, such as towels. Utilities such as toilets and wash basins were invented to deal safely with human waste but still have risks associated with them. Safe disposal of human waste is a fundamental need; poor sanitation is a primary cause of diarrhea disease in low-income communities. Respiratory viruses and fungal spores spread via the air.[15]
Good home hygiene means engaging in hygiene practices at critical points to break the chain of infection.[11][13] Because the "infectious dose" for some pathogens can be very small (10–100 viable units or even less for some viruses), and infection can result from direct transfer of pathogens from surfaces via hands or food to the mouth, nasal mucous, or the eye, "hygienic cleaning" procedures should be adopted to eliminate pathogens from critical surfaces.[16]
Hand washing during pandemic
Hand washing
Hand hygiene sign in public restroom
Regular handwashing with soap is one of the most effective ways to prevent the transmission of pathogens. It significantly reduces the risk of gastrointestinal and respiratory infections.
A tippy tap for handwashing after using a urine-diverting dry toilet in Pumpuentsa, EcuadorWashing hygiene
Correct respiratory and hand hygiene when coughing and sneezing reduces the spread of pathogens particularly during the cold and flu season:[9]
Carry tissues and use them to catch coughs and sneezes, or sneeze into your elbow.
Dispose of tissues as soon as possible.
Hygiene in the kitchen, bathroom and toilet
Hygiene in the kitchenHygiene in the bathroom
Routine cleaning of hands, food, sites, and surfaces (such as toilet seats and flush handles, door and tap handles, work surfaces, and bath and basin surfaces) in the kitchen, bathroom, and toilet rooms reduces the spread of pathogens.[17] The infection risk from flush toilets is not high, provided they are properly maintained, although some splashing and aerosol formation can occur during flushing, particularly when someone has diarrhea. Pathogens can survive in the scum or scale left behind on baths, showers, and washbasins after washing and bathing.[18][19][20]
Hygiene in the toilet
Thorough cleaning is important to prevent the spread of fungal infections. Molds can live on wall and floor tiles and on shower curtains. Mold can be responsible for infections, cause allergic reactions, deteriorate/damage surfaces, and cause unpleasant odors. Primary sites of fungal growth are inanimate surfaces, including carpets and soft furnishings.[21][22] Airborne fungi are usually associated with damp conditions, poor ventilation, or closed air systems.[23]
Mechanical removal (i.e., cleaning) using a soap or detergent. To be effective as a hygiene measure, this process must be followed by thorough rinsing under running water to remove pathogens from the surface.
Hygiene cleaning to improve sanitation in Kampala Using a process or product that inactivates the pathogens in situ. Pathogen kill is achieved using a "micro-biocidal" product, i.e., a disinfectant or antibacterial product; waterless hand sanitizer; or by application of heat.
In some cases, combined pathogen removal with kill is used, e.g., laundering of clothing and household linens such as towels and bed linen.
House deep-cleaning an intensive cleaning process targeting often-neglected areas, enhancing aesthetics, and improving health by reducing allergens and bacteria. It typically includes tasks like detailed dusting, appliance cleaning, and carpet shampooing, recommended biannually to maintain a home's hygiene and air quality.
Laundry hygiene
Laundry hygiene involves practices that prevent disease and its spread via soiled clothing and household linens such as towels.[26] Items most likely to be contaminated with pathogens are those that come into direct contact with the body, e.g., underwear, personal towels, facecloths, nappies. Cloths or other fabric items used during food preparation, or for cleaning the toilet or cleaning up material such as feces or vomit are a particular risk.[13]
↑ 1.01.1UNICEF and WHO (2021), State of the World's Hand Hygiene: A global call to action to make hand hygiene a priority in policy and practice, New York: UNICEF
↑"Hygiene: Overview". World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved 29 January 2020.
↑Cole E (2000). "Allergen control through routine cleaning of pollutant reservoirs in the home environment". Proceedings of Healthy Building. 4: 435–36.
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