Section II. CONTROL MEASURES OF FOOD- AND WATER-BORNE DISEASES
2-12. GENERAL
a. Control measures for the prevention of food- and water-borne diseases are
aimed at breaking the chain of disease transmission.
b. If any link in this chain is broken, the spread of disease will be arrested. For
any given disease, there is always one link that is more vulnerable and most easily
broken. However, it is always best to attack all three links, thereby intensifying our
efforts at prevention to the maximum extent possible. One measure, which is applicable
to all three links, is personal hygiene. If good principles of personal hygiene are applied
throughout the chain of disease transmission, few problems with communicable
diseases will be encountered.
BREAKING THE CHAIN of COMMUNICABLE DISEASE
TRANSMISSION
Apply the principles of personal hygiene
2-13. MEASURES APPLICABLE TO THE SOURCE
a. Food- and Water-borne Diseases are Filth Diseases. Human body
discharge--feces, urine, and, to a more limited extent, sputum and the content of skin
lesions--are the principal sources of intestinal infections. Control of these diseases
rests primarily with prevention of excreta-to-mouth transmission.
b. Human Feces and Urine Disposal. Disposal of human feces and urine
must be accomplished in a sanitary manner. On a post with a sanitary sewage system
that includes an adequate sewage treatment plant, excreta containing the most virulent
of disease agents can be placed directly into the system in safety and without prior
disinfection. In the field, proper construction, maintenance, use, and closure of field
latrines must be enforced. Walls, floors, grounds, clothing, and other articles soiled by
cases and carriers of communicable diseases must be disinfected.
c. Control Measures. Patients sick with intestinal diseases communicable from
man to man should be cared for in areas screened against flies and under such
conditions of isolation as are warranted by the infection.
d. Food Handlers/Kitchen Personnel. Persons to be assigned or employed as
permanent food handlers should be given pre-employment medical examinations.
Persons known or suspected to be carriers of intestinal disease must be
barred from food handling duty while they are infective.
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