You know about germs and parasites. But do you know how they spread? What about how to stop them from spreading? Before saying that only health professionals should know the answers to these questions, consider this: Your health and that of your community is also your responsibility, not of health workers alone. With that in mind, let’s get back to stopping germs and parasites.

What are Germs and Parasites?

Germs are microbes that alter normal body functions by producing toxins, multiplying rapidly, or damaging organs. To get into your body, they use an agent, such as air, water, food, an insect, or even a human being.

Parasites, on the other hand, are tiny organisms, either plant or animal, that live on or in another organism, including humans. The tiniest, such as protozoa or worms, use food to get into your body. But the larger ones like mites and lice require physical contact.

5 Ways to Stop Germs from Spreading

1.  Don’t Share Clothes and Towels

Skin diseases spread through physical contact. Yet even without touching infected persons, you can still contract a skin disease if you share clothes and, in particular, towels with them.

2. Cover Your Face When Coughing or Sneezing

When you cough or sneeze near others, you release fine water droplets into the air, which they then inhale. If you happen to be sick, they’ll counteract whatever disease you have. So, cover your face with a handkerchief when you feel a cough or sneeze coming on.

3. Wash Hands after Using a Toilet

You’ve heard this before: After using a toilet, wash your hands using soap and water. That’s sound advice because, this way, you remove germs found in fecal matter from your hands.

4. Drink Treated Water

Waterborne diseases like cholera are particularly dangerous, but easy to prevent. Instead of drinking untreated river or well water, boil it first to kill any germs it may contain.

5. Dispose Rubbish Properly

Rubbish heaps are packed with germs, which then use insects and rodents to find their way into your house, food, and, ultimately, into your body. So don’t throw rubbish aimlessly. Store it in a covered bin.

5 Ways to Stop Parasites from Spreading

1. Don’t Share Combs

Lice live on hairy parts of your body, such as the head, armpits, and pubic region, where they lay eggs called nits on the hair and suck blood from the skin. As a result, you get them through shared combs and clothing. Fortunately, killing them is easy using a medicated shampoo. It’s the nits that are harder to remove. For that, you must shave your hair or use a fine tooth comb.

2. Shower Regularly

Unlike lice, which live on the skin, mites burrow into it to lay eggs in the hair follicles, causing a persistent itch and an infection called scabies. To remove both, shower regularly using a medicated shampoo, and avoid sharing clothes with infected persons.

3. Wash and Sundry Clothes

Not sharing personal items keeps parasites away from your body, but not from your clothes or beddings. Fortunately, there’s a natural way to remove parasites of which one is the sun. After washing clothes, beddings, and mattresses, leave them to dry in the sun all day. Its rays remove parasites like mites and lice.

4. Maintain Proper Toilet Hygiene

How you use the toilet determines whether you get worms or not because they live in fecal matter. So as a precaution, wear shoes before and after leaving a toilet. Then clean the toilet regularly.

5. Wash and Cook Food Well

Besides living in fecal matter, some worms, such as tapeworms, also live in uncooked food, in this case meat. For this reason, cook food well, and if you eat raw fruits or vegetables, first give them a thorough wash.

Stopping the spread of germs and parasites is not as difficult as seems. The secret is to do two things. One, cut off all contact with the agents and items they use to spread. And two, maintain proper hygiene.