Invited Commentary

Importance of Personal Hygiene Techniques in Public Health

Authors: G. Richard Holt, MD, MSE, MPH, MABE

Abstract

In this issue, Dr. Schulte and her colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the Texas Department of State Health Services describe a public health intervention at a small school in North Texas during an unusual outbreak of shigellosis among 10% of its students.1 The outbreak was considered an unusual occurrence because most of the previously reported outbreaks had been in day care centers where younger children are more disposed to spreading the contagion through oro-fecal contamination. The North Texas intervention was undertaken in a most timely manner, enabling the investigators to not only identify the public health issues involved but also act quickly to reduce the risk of an ongoing and spreading outbreak. This was a most commendable action.

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References

1. Schulte J, Williams L, Asghar J, et al. How we didn’t clean up until we washed our hands: shigellosis in an elementary and middle school in North Texas. South Med J 2012; 105: 1–4.
 
2. Larson E. innovations in health care: antisepsis as a case study. Am J Public Health 1989; 79: 92–99.
 
3. Cairncross S, Hunt C, Boisson S, et al. Water, sanitation and hygiene for the prevention of diarrhea. Int J Epidemiol 2010; 39: i193–i205.
 
4. Blanton e, Ombeki S, Oluoch GO, et al. Evaluation of the role of school children in the promotion of point of use water treatment and handwashing in schools and households—Nyanza Province, Western Kenya 2007. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2010; 82: 664–671.
 
5. Lopez-Quintero C, Freeman P, Neumark Y. Hand washing among school children in Bogota, Colombia. Am J Public Health 2008; 99: 94–101.
 
6. Arnold B, Arana B, Mausezahl D, et al. Evaluation of a pre-existing, 3 year household water treatment and handwashing intervention in rural Guatemala. Int J Epidemiol 2009; 38: 1651–1661.