Basic Hygiene and Why It Matters

You didn't just sneeze into your hand then pick up that telephone did you? From the mucus membranes to the hand then to any object it contacts—this is one of the fastest ways to spread disease. So now you've done it--you've broken a cardinal rule of basic hygiene and spread your cold to the next person who uses that phone. OK, quickly go get an alcohol wipe and clean the phone.

Most of us are aware that basic hygiene is a social necessity. Individuals exhibiting good health and cleanliness are perceived as more socially acceptable than those whose personal habits lack proper care and hygiene. Yet at times we forget that basic hygiene helps reduce the spread of infectious disease. In our modern world it is hard to grasp that before people like Florence Nightingale began touting the disease controlling benefits of personal hygiene, epidemics spread with deadly rapidity through populations and lack of basic hygiene acted as the main catalyst.

Personal Hygiene

Bathing is not a recent development, at least not to most people. Except for that little lapse during the Renaissance when Europeans believed water made them ill by seeping into the pores of the skin, personal cleanliness has always enjoyed some degree of popularity. By the 20th century we had discovered that washing with warm water did more than simply mitigate the smell of sweat and grime from a day's labor--it could also prevent the spread of certain diseases. Today hygiene is so much a part of our cultural fabric it is given little thought.

Perhaps the best way to understand the importance of basic hygiene is to look at how it affects our everyday lives. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate that almost $950,000,000 in medical cost is incurred each year due to illnesses preventable by basic hygiene practices. That is money out of your pocket each time you have to see a doctor about a cold, a rash or the flu. Simple things like frequently washing your hands, drying thoroughly after bathing and properly cleaning after urination or a bowel movement can not only help keep you healthy, but can help maintain the well-being of those around you.

Environmental Hygiene

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and been tormented by flies? Flies are attracted by filth (fecal matter, decaying food, organic materials, etc.). Flies can spread a host of bacterial organisms to the food we eat, surfaces we touch and our skin. Which means it is important to practice environmental hygiene and to defend against poor environmental hygiene. At home simply keeping things neat and clean should do the trick. Clean up after cooking, wash up after handling meat and poultry, keep pets and kids cleaned up and eliminate areas of standing water inside and outside your residence. Doing these things will keep salmonella, diarrhea and disease carrying pests at bay.

You can't control how others maintain their environments; that fly-infested restaurant isn't going to clean up its act for you. Your best defense against disease in situations like this is to hastily retreat—don't eat food that you even suspect could be contaminated by an infectious organism.

Hygiene is an Evolving Science

Certainly basic hygiene alone cannot cure disease. Advancements in public health, sanitation, science and education all contributed to the decline in mortality rates due to infectious diseases. As our knowledge of disease transmission improves, some of the notions we have concerning the relationship of hygiene to health will change. In fact today we are beginning to understand that not all microbes are bad for us; our relationship with germs and bacteria is symbiotic. The goal of basic hygiene is to maintain a natural, healthy balance of these organisms.

By MS Kauffman