The bacterium that causes typhoid is able to spread rapidly with unclean cooking surfaces and unhygienic ways of handling food – so is your kitchen safe or a safety hazard?
It seems like an innocuous illness, but typhoid can cause high fever, and even acute hair fall and weakness. So how do you prevent it?
What are the causes of typhoid?
Typhoid is primarily caused by the Salmonella Enterica Serotype Typhi bacteria, or in some cases, the Salmonella Paratyphi bacteria. Both of these are the leading causes of typhoid fever. They are said to be deposited in food or water by a human carrier, who incubates it in their intestines prior to spreading it to others.
Is your kitchen safe from typhoid?
If you are wondering how typhoid reached your home – maybe your child or another family member was recently diagnosed with the illness – now would be a good time to do a spot check of your home hygiene and cooking practices:
* Don’t be the cause of typhoid. Like we mentioned above, typhoid can be passed to food and water through unclean hands. If you are in charge of preparing food and cooking all the meals for the household, then your hands must be germ-free. Use an antibacterial handwashing soap prior to handling raw food, and make sure to wash your hands after cooking as well.
* Check the water quality in your house. Get the water samples in your house tested for typhoid. You can do this by contacting the local municipal ward office.
* Sanitise all surfaces of common use every day. In case there is a typhoid outbreak in the locality, make sure that all the surfaces of common use in the house – taps, knobs and handles, phone handset, computer keyboard, TV remote control, etc. – are sanitised with a disinfectant liquid. This removes all the lurking germs by killing up to 99.9% of them on contact.
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