National Month for the Prevention of Acute Diarrheal Diseases and Food Poisoning: Key Measures and Statistics to Know

Traditionally, every year, between 1-31 May, the national month for the prevention of acute diarrheal diseases (ADD), food poisoning and cholera is observed, with the aim of promoting knowledge about diseases with food and water transmission factor and preventive measures of disease cases, outbreaks among the general population and in communities.

Currently, more than 200 diseases are caused by eating food or water contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemicals. BDA can be transmitted through food or water contaminated with pathogens at various stages of the chain of production, storage, transport or consumption.

Globally, every year, approximately 444,000 children under the age of 5 years and approximately 50,000 children aged 5-9 years lose their lives due to SAD, which is the third leading cause of death among children under the age of 5 years.

In the Republic of Moldova, every year, about 16-20 thousand cases of BAD are registered, including up to 10 deaths among children under the age of 5 and adults. In the morbidity structure, in 75%, the majority are children aged 0-17 years. Also, more than 20 outbreaks are recorded every year in the group.

The BDA group includes diseases with the faecal-oral transmission mechanism (cholera, dysentery, rotaviral disease, salmonellosis, typhoid fever, yersiniosis, etc.).

Clinical signs of this group of different nosologies, but they can also be common, including fever up to 40 ° C, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, liquid stool (with blood, mucus, watery) , with a frequency of up to 20-30 hours a day, general weakness, headache. In some cases, septicemia, dehydration and, respectively, toxico-infectious shock develop. In children, especially up to 1 year, clinical symptoms develop faster than in adults and, respectively, the state of health can worsen in a short period of time.

The incubation period is the time from the entry of the etiological agent into the human body until the development of clinical signs. For different nosological forms, this time varies from 30 minutes to 3-7 days, for yersiniosis, typhoid fever – up to 3 weeks.

The source of the disease for some of the BDA (dysentery, rotaviral disease, typhoid fever, etc.) it is a person. For another group of diseases (salmonellosis, yersiniosis, paratyphoid fever B and C), sources of disease are also animals, birds, rodents.

In the Republic of Moldova, the seasonal increase in morbidity due to BDA is confirmed during the warm period (June-September) of the year. People can become infected in a variety of ways, including:

• through food – by eating contaminated food,
• usually – through contaminated items and non-compliance with the rules of personal hygiene,
• liquid – by drinking or bathing in contaminated water. In some nosologies (rotaviral disease) the airborne transmission route is also achieved.

Key measures to prevent BDA include:

• breastfeeding exclusively in the first 6 months of life and continuing to breastfeed up to 2 years and more;
• vaccination of children against rotavirus disease;
• washing hands with soap after going to the toilet and before eating;
• sufficient washing under running water of fruits and vegetables used in food without thermal processing;
• avoiding the supply of foodstuffs and raw materials in unauthorized places, without adequate storage conditions;
• cleaning and disinfecting kitchen surfaces and utensils (knives, plates, etc.) used for food preparation;
• individual placement, respecting the principle of proximity, of finished products and raw materials in the refrigerator;
• use of separate kitchen tools for cutting finished products and raw materials;
• compliance with thermal processing system of food products and storage terms;
• preventing flies, kitchen bugs, mice from entering the house, especially in the kitchen;
• use of drinking water only from safe sources;
• use only water pools organized for this purpose.

To avoid a serious BDA breach and food poisoning, it is forbidden:

• organize concerts in buildings where basic hygiene conditions are lacking (facilities for washing hands, toilet, soap, sufficient sets of kitchen utensils, limited storage capacity for food products, etc.);
• prepare dishes 2-3 days before the event;
• the use of eggs, including goose and duck, for the preparation of creams and sweets without thermal processing;
• the participation of people with clinical symptoms of BAD and other infectious diseases in the preparation of vessels.

If the first clinical signs of BDA occur, avoid self-treatment, contact your family doctor or call 112.