Pay attention to drinking water hygiene, guard against insect-borne diseases and natural foci, prevent heatstroke...
Please collect the flood disaster health knowledge points
Following the extreme rainstorms in Henan Province, the typhoon "Fireworks" also landed on my country's southeast coast twice, causing extreme rainstorms in Zhejiang, Shanghai and other places, and floods are extremely likely to occur in many places.
"After a major disaster, it is easy to have a major epidemic." In order to prevent possible epidemics after floods, the National Health Commission and the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have successively issued flood disaster health knowledge tips to provide guidance and suggestions for protecting the lives and health of the affected people.
In addition, medical experts also carried out popularization of related knowledge.
Intestinal infectious diseases caused by water pollution are most likely to occur
Li Tong, deputy chief physician of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Beijing You'an Hospital, once said in an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that among the epidemics that are prone to floods, gastrointestinal diseases caused by water pollution are the most common. These include dysentery, hepatitis A, hepatitis E, typhoid and paratyphoid that can be transmitted through water sources, and even cholera. After water pollution, fish and shrimp and other aquatic products are prone to parasites and infect people.
In addition, due to the hot and humid summer, food is prone to spoilage, and can easily cause diarrhea and gastrointestinal infections.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a reminder: During floods, water sources are easily polluted by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and factory chemicals. Drink this water and use it to wash rice, wash vegetables, wash pots and pans. Brushing your teeth and gargle can easily get sick, spread diseases and cause chemical acute and chronic poisoning.
Therefore, people in flood disaster areas should pay special attention to drinking water hygiene, not drinking raw water, drinking only boiled water or drinking only bottled water or barreled water that meets sanitary standards; water intake points should be kept away from feces, garbage, sewage; contaminated life Water and drinking water must be clarified and disinfected; water tanks, barrels, pots, basins, etc. must be clean and often emptied for cleaning; temporary water sources must be disinfected.
What are the precautions for people's food hygiene in areas where floods occur?
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you wash your hands before and after meals, separate raw and cooked foods; cook meat and aquatic products thoroughly, do not eat aquatic products; when eating raw fruits and vegetables, you must wash them with clean water and eat less. Or don't eat cold food; don't eat livestock that died of disease or drowning; leftovers should be heated thoroughly before eating.
On July 22, the National Health Commission issued the "Guidelines for Preventive Disinfection in Flood-Stricken Areas (2021)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines").
The "Guidelines" suggest that foods that have been soaked in the flood or spoiled should be handled in a timely manner, and any food that has been soaked in the flood should not be eaten.
Steamable food should be fully heated and eaten. The first choice is to boil and disinfect the food (drinking) utensils after cleaning. The boiling time should be more than 15 minutes.
People who have skin redness, swelling and injury caused by prolonged flood immersion should seek medical treatment in time, or use iodophor or other skin disinfectants to apply disinfection.
Xu Shengyong, assistant director of the emergency department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, added that people in the disaster area should also pay attention to rest and improve their personal resistance. Once trauma occurs, they need to be treated and disinfected as soon as possible. If a mass incident is found, such as a group of three or more people Similar symptoms need to be reported as soon as possible to prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases.
Be vigilant against insect-borne and natural foci-borne diseases
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reminds us to be vigilant against insect-borne and natural epidemic-borne diseases.
Natural foci disease refers to a disease that exists for a long time under natural conditions, is prevalent among wild animals, and can infect humans under certain conditions.
Natural foci diseases are more significantly affected by natural factors. Due to changes in the natural environment during floods, including changes in temperature, humidity, water levels, and vector habitat changes, they have affected the growth and reproduction of pathogens, sources of infection, vectors, and hosts. Life habits.
On the other hand, the poor living conditions, malnutrition, and mental and psychological depression of the people in the disaster area during the occurrence of natural disasters reduce the body’s resistance to diseases and damage the health and disease prevention measures in the disaster area, which can easily lead to the epidemic and outbreak of natural epidemic-borne diseases. .
Therefore, the natural focal infectious diseases that need to be mainly prevented after the flood include hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (epidemic hemorrhagic fever), leptospirosis (hereinafter referred to as "leptospirosis"), Japanese encephalitis, malaria, Schistosomiasis, plague, anthrax, brucellosis, etc.
Among them, anthrax and leptospirosis are infectious diseases with a high incidence in July to September.
The main hosts of leptospirosis are pigs and other domestic animals and rodents, and humans are mainly infected by contact with infected water and soil contaminated by the bacteria-carrying urine of pigs and rodents.
The disaster-affected areas are areas with a high incidence of leptospirosis. People in the disaster-stricken areas should avoid contact with infected water, keep pigs and other livestock in captivity, and actively cooperate with the government to carry out patriotic sanitation activities such as rodent eradication. If symptoms such as fever, headache, and general fatigue occur, they should seek medical treatment in time.
Skin anthrax is the most common form of anthrax, accounting for more than 95% of all cases.
Skin-type anthrax skin lesions usually occur on exposed parts such as hands, face, and neck, and are characterized by erythema, papules, and blisters on the skin.
The most important measure to prevent anthrax in the disaster-affected areas is to avoid contact with dead animals. If animals such as cattle and sheep have suddenly died, they must not eat or buy or sell them, and report to the local agricultural and animal husbandry department immediately.
Outdoor activities after the disaster need to prevent heatstroke
In areas where floods occur, many houses have been destroyed and many people have been exposed to direct sunlight for longer periods of time. In this case, human body temperature regulation is prone to obstacles, and water and electrolyte metabolism disorders and nervous system functions are prone to occur. Damage and other symptoms, easy to heat stroke.
According to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the main symptoms of heat stroke include fever, fatigue, skin burning, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, chest tightness, irritability, rapid pulse, and drop in blood pressure.
In severe cases, severe headaches, fainting, coma, and convulsions may occur.
If someone has heat stroke, they should be moved to a cool place or air-conditioned room immediately and given a physical cooling.
Severe patients need to cool down quickly. An ice cap can be worn on their head, and ice packs can be placed on both sides of the neck, underarms, and near the inguinal arteries.
Precautions to be taken to prevent heatstroke after a disaster include:
1. Drink water regularly.
Do not wait to drink when you are thirsty, drink more warm water with light salt.
2. Reasonable diet.
It is better to have a light diet, eat more foods rich in protein, vitamin B, and vitamin C, eat more cold vegetables, bitter vegetables, and eat a variety of melons.
3. Ensure adequate sleep and arrange reasonable schedules for work and rest.
Fourth, reduce unnecessary activities.
5. Try to choose a shaded place to escape the heat during direct sunlight at noon. It is not advisable to do too much activity under the hot noon and strong light. If you must go out, you should wear loose, light-colored clothes with good air permeability, and wear protective glasses and sun hats.
When it is very hot, no matter what activities you are doing outdoors, you should slow down and bring necessary heatstroke prevention medicines such as refreshing oil, rendan, ten drops of water, wind oil essence, etc., and use it in time if you find discomfort.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Liu Changrong