What a disease from unwashed hands. “Diseases of dirty hands” - a danger that threatens everyone

Summer is a wonderful time. The wealth of fruit displays in the markets pleases the eye, and the anticipation of vacation excites, adding variety to boring working days. Nevertheless, the summer heat is a favorable environment for the development of various types of infections. Your task for this summer is to protect yourself and your loved ones from possible problems.

Hand washing is a comfortable, smart habit that is very important. This is a good way to avoid infectious diseases. Basic rules of hygiene have been instilled in us since early childhood. We keep the house in order and keep our body clean. Few people think: what will happen if you don’t do this?


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Washing your hands before eating and after using the toilet is an important hygiene practice. This procedure destroys pathogens, which accumulate on our hands after touching various dirty surfaces.


© DepositPhotos

You constantly touch something with your hands in everyday life. You open and close doors, hold a computer mouse, pay for purchases and greet with a handshake. The things you touch are far from sterile. By touching them, you collect different microbes.


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Diseases of dirty hands

Unwashed hands expose us to a wide variety of unpleasant infectious diseases. These include:

  1. salmonellosis
  2. dysentery
  3. typhoid fever
  4. hepatitis A
  5. helminthiasis


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This is such a scary list. The causative agents of these unpleasant diseases fall on your hands. Then you touch your face with these hands, take food with them, or bring your hands to your mouth, thereby allowing viruses and bacteria access to the body.


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A strong and healthy immune system will destroy enemy infiltrators. It’s a completely different matter if a child or a weakened adult’s body is at risk of infection. The consequences can be sad!


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When to wash your hands

Always. Before eating, after eating, before going to the toilet and certainly after it. Wash your hands at work and at home. It’s better to protect yourself than to deal with the consequences later.

Almost every profession involves risk in one way or another. Occupational diseases are a side effect of human activity. Oddly enough, computers and the Internet are firmly in the lead in the number of occupational diseases.

It would seem, what dangers can await a person in the office or even at home? The risk of contracting one of the diseases of dirty hands is one of the most likely risks.

Giardiasis– a classic disease of dirty hands. The causative agent of giardiasis, Giardia, is extremely active in its natural habitat - the small intestine. Feeding on digestive products, Giardia reproduces at an extraordinary speed. Giardia is transferred from one carrier to another in the form of a cyst - an oblong microscopic sac. In this state, Giardia is very resistant to external influences - it can withstand temperature changes from -70 to +50°C and most common disinfectants.

Giardia is very hardy even in its mature state. They stick to the walls of the internal organs and feed on any organic food that they come across, right down to the mucous membrane and intestinal walls. Disability is the minimum penalty for failing to see a doctor in a timely manner.

Salmonellosis– a disease caused by salmonella, a bacterium that lives in fresh meat, eggs and dairy products. Stale water and food, insufficiently processed foods are the habitat for salmonella. The bacterium is easily transmitted by hands, including through the keyboard and computer mouse. Salmonellosis is not just dangerous, but deadly. Even modern medicines are not always able to cure this disease.

Dysentery- a well-known, but still dangerous, insidious disease. The causative agent is staphylococcus, which enters the body with water and food. Staphylococci live in places with high humidity, so dysentery is usually not transmitted through contact with smooth, dry surfaces. But if tiny drops of saliva from an infected person or animal fall on the surface, even a computer mouse or keyboard can become a source of infection. In this case, the infected person is guaranteed several weeks of suffering, and in the worst case, death from dehydration: the body of a patient with dysentery is almost unable to retain and absorb water.

Symptoms of diseases of dirty hands

  • abdominal pain;
  • frequent nausea, vomiting;
  • inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
  • fatigue, irritability, restless sleep;
  • allergic conditions;
  • urinary tract infections (cystitis);
  • increased level of eosinophils in the blood (blood cells related to leukocytes that are involved in protecting the body from the penetration of foreign bodies);
  • a sharp decrease in body weight.

Causes of diseases of dirty hands

A computer keyboard and mouse are objects that a programmer, designer, or copywriter does not just come into contact with. These are objects with which contact continues for a long time, day after day. Once we touch the keyboard, coming from the street, we transfer microparticles back to our fingers, closing the circle and making hand hygiene pointless.

Methods of treating diseases of dirty hands

Prevention of diseases of dirty hands

Everything here is more or less simple: you need to wash your hands more often after visiting the toilet, immediately upon returning from the street and after communicating with pets, after shaking hands (there is no guarantee that the interlocutor is as clean as you).

It is also worth cleaning the keyboard with special compounds that can be purchased at any store: it is advisable to thoroughly clean the keys and computer mouse at least once a week, and wipe them with damp wipes every day.

It is worth giving up the habit of biting your nails and putting a pen in your mouth.

You should not allow your cat to lie on the table, even if your pet is clean and well-groomed. The fur of any animal, even the cleanest one, contains enough pathogens from dirty hands.

It is worth giving up eating at the computer. Chips, sandwiches and various sweets are taken with hands, which simultaneously operate the keyboard and mouse.

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Hand washing is not just a habit, it is a way to protect yourself from many infectious diseases.

It’s hard to find a person who doesn’t know that you need to follow the rules of hygiene: brush your teeth, maintain order where you live and, of course, wash your hands. All this has become familiar to us, and we often don’t even think about what will happen if we don’t do this. But the habit of washing our hands is very important; it saves us from many dangerous diseases.

TO WASH HANDS

Mandatory hand washing before eating and after using the toilet is not just a fad. This is a necessity designed to protect our body from many pathogens that accumulate on our hands.

Hands are our main tool, which we constantly use in everyday life. We handle a variety of objects: door handles, handrails, money, a computer mouse. But all these things are not sterile at all; thousands of pathogenic microorganisms have found refuge on them. By touching these contaminated things, we transfer some of the germs to our hands.

WHAT DISEASES CAN YOU GET IF YOU DO NOT WASH YOUR HANDS?

Many infectious diseases can be contracted through unwashed hands. Among them:

  • cholera
  • typhoid fever
  • hepatitis A
  • dysentery
  • influenza and other acute respiratory viral infections
  • salmonellosis
  • diseases caused by worms

The causative agents of these and many other diseases fall into our hands. Then we touch our faces with our hands, take food with unwashed hands, or bring unwashed hands to our mouth, and thereby open the door for infection to enter the body.

Of course, with a strong, operationally functioning immune system, such penetrations of enemy spies must be neutralized. But if the immune system is weakened, then we risk “getting” one of the diseases of dirty hands.

INTESTINAL INFECTIONS
Intestinal infections very often enter the body through dirty hands. Their frequency especially increases in summer, when air temperature promotes the activation of pathogenic microorganisms. Signs of intestinal infections - nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.

ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS
During the cold season, frequent hand washing is one of the main means to prevent pathogens from entering the body. This method is effective for both bacteria and viruses. Regular hand washing reduces the likelihood of contracting ARVI several times.

ARVI and the flu, a representative of this class of diseases that we all know, are especially dangerous for their complications, including pneumonia, otitis media, and meningitis.

HEPATITIS A
Hepatitis A virus can also be contracted through contaminated hands. The mode of transmission of this disease is fecal-oral. Those. Unwashed hands after using the toilet or contaminated food allow infection to enter the body. Then the virus enters the liver with the blood and destroys its cells - hepatocytes.
This is a serious disease that disrupts liver function and requires long-term treatment. Hepatitis can be severe and lead to irreversible damage to the liver.

WORMS
I stroked an animal in which worms live, and then forgot to wash my hands - this is a very common way for worms to enter the human body. The most common worms that enter us this way are pinworms and roundworms. They can cause us a lot of trouble in the form of nausea, weakness, and headaches. The larvae can enter the lungs, muscles, eyes and settle there. Intestinal obstruction may develop, allergies may appear, and other dangerous manifestations of the appearance of “tenants” in the body may occur.

A simple procedure saves us from all these dangerous diseases - washing our hands. You can avoid diseases of dirty hands by using a universal product - soap. This disinfectant removes up to 99% of viruses and bacteria settled there.

TO WASH HANDS
Wash your hands after using the toilet.
Be sure to wash your hands before eating
Wash your hands when you get home
Wash your hands when you come to work

You should NOT wash your hands poorly, just for show, because such washing may not bring the desired effect and too many germs will remain on your hands. According to the technology, you need to thoroughly lather your hands with soap several times, and then rinse it off under running warm water. This is the only way we can remove pathogens from our hands.

You need to wash your hands with soap for at least 30 seconds

Do not forget to lather the faucet handle with soap, because the maximum amount of bacteria accumulates on it

Rub the soap under your nails too

Remember, the more foam, the cleaner your hands will be.

Jewelry must be removed before washing your hands.


Hand washing is not only a banal method of hygiene, but also the most important method of preventing various infections. What diseases can you get by simply forgetting to wash your hands? woman

Diseases of dirty hands are serious

Hand washing is not just a habit, it is a way to protect yourself from many infectious diseases that come more easily and most likely through dirty hands.

Nowadays, it is difficult to find a person who does not know that it is necessary to follow the rules of hygiene: brush your teeth, maintain order where you live and, of course, wash your hands. All this has become familiar to us, and we often don’t even think about what will happen if we don’t do this. But the habit of washing our hands is very important; it saves us from many dangerous diseases.

Why wash your hands?

Mandatory hand washing before eating and after using the toilet is not just a fad. This is a necessity designed to protect our body from many pathogens that accumulate on our hands.

Hands are our main tool, which we constantly use in everyday life. We handle a variety of objects: door handles, handrails, money, a computer mouse. But all these things are not sterile at all; thousands of pathogenic microorganisms have found refuge on them. By touching these contaminated things, we transfer some of the germs to our hands.

What diseases can be caught through unwashed hands?

The following infectious diseases can be contracted through unwashed hands:

- cholera
- typhoid fever
- hepatitis A
- dysentery
- influenza and other acute respiratory viral infections
— salmonellosis
- diseases caused by worms

The causative agents of these and many other diseases fall into our hands. Then we touch our faces with our hands, take food with unwashed hands, or “drag” unwashed hands into our mouths, and thereby open the door for infection to enter the body.

Of course, with a strong, operationally functioning immune system, such penetrations of enemy spies must be neutralized. But if the immune system is weakened, then we risk “getting” one of the diseases of dirty hands.

Intestinal infections

Intestinal infections very often enter the body through dirty hands. Their frequency especially increases in summer, when air temperature promotes the activation of pathogenic microorganisms. Signs of intestinal infections are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.
Intestinal infections can vary in aggressiveness and can lead to dangerous consequences: dehydration, a sharp increase in temperature, and can even pose a threat to life.

Acute respiratory infections

During the cold season, frequent hand washing is one of the main means to prevent pathogens from entering the body. This method is effective for both bacteria and viruses. Regular hand washing reduces the likelihood of contracting ARVI several times.

ARVI and the flu, a representative of this class of diseases that we all know, are especially dangerous for their complications, including pneumonia, otitis media, and meningitis.

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A virus can also be contracted through contaminated hands. The mode of transmission of this disease is fecal-oral. That is, unwashed hands after using the toilet or contaminated food allow infection to enter the body. Then the virus enters the liver with the blood and destroys its cells - hepatocytes.

This is a serious disease that disrupts liver function and requires long-term treatment. Hepatitis can be severe and lead to irreversible damage to the liver.

Worms

I stroked an animal in which worms live, and then forgot to wash my hands - this is a very common way for worms to enter the human body. The most common worms that enter us this way are pinworms and roundworms. They can cause us a lot of trouble in the form of nausea, weakness, and headaches. The larvae can enter the lungs, muscles, eyes and settle there. Intestinal obstruction may develop, allergies may appear, and other dangerous manifestations of the appearance of “tenants” in the body may occur.

A simple procedure saves us from all these dangerous diseases - washing our hands. You can avoid diseases of dirty hands by using a universal product - soap. This disinfectant removes up to 99% of viruses and bacteria settled there.

When to wash your hands?

— Wash your hands after using the toilet.
- Be sure to wash your hands before eating
- Wash your hands when you get home
— Wash your hands when you come to work

Hand washing technology

You should not wash your hands poorly, just for show, because such washing may not bring the desired effect and too many germs will remain on your hands. According to the technology, you need to thoroughly lather your hands with soap several times, and then rinse it off under running warm water. This is the only way we can remove pathogens from our hands.

Psychological effects

Washing your hands not only has a “disinfecting effect,” but also helps from a psychological point of view. Scientists have found that hand washing helps get rid of unpleasant memories and can relieve stress after making a big decision. This discovery can be used to relieve fatigue and relax a little. True, it’s probably not worth getting carried away with such “psychological” hand washing, otherwise there is a risk of turning into a paranoid person who will need to wash his hands every hour “to calm down.”

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