Infection Prevention in the Classroom Setting

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Infection Prevention in the Classroom Setting

• USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness
  at
• Texas AM Health Science Center
• School of Rural Public Health

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Welcome!

• Germs can spread rapidly in a classroom setting,
  so staying informed and active to protect
  yourself and students from infectious diseases is
  essential. Increased awareness will minimize the
  risk of infection, prevent disease transmission,
  and preserve a healthy and safe classroom
  environment.
• The USA Center for Rural Public Health
  Preparedness at Texas AM Health Science Center
  School of Rural Public Health designed this
  train-the-trainer activity for teachers and their
  students. It provides information , ideas, and
  learning activities for the classroom to help
  keep children healthy and prevent the spread of
  infection in the classroom setting.

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What is an Infectious Disease?

• Infection
• An infection occurs when microorganisms, or
  germs, enter and multiply in the body.
• Infectious Disease
• An infectious disease occurs when the infection
  damages the body and produces signs and symptoms
  indicating the body is unhealthy.
• Infectious Agent
• Infectious agents are microorganisms such as
  bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa, and parasites
  that can cause infectious disease.

www.mayoclinic.com/health/infectious-disease/ID000
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Infectious Disease Examples

• Common Cold
• Influenza
• Meningitis
• Chickenpox
• Staph / Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
  aureus (MRSA)
• Tuberculosis
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
• Head lice
• Ringworm
• Salmonellosis
• Chlamydia
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
• Hepatitis A, B, and C

www.go.mb.ca/health/publichealth/cdc/fs/infcontshe
lter.pdf
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How Are Infectious Diseases Spread?

• Understanding how infectious diseases are spread
  is important for minimizing the risk of infection
  and preventing disease transmission.
• Three ways in which infectious diseases can be
  transmitted
• Direct transmission
• Indirect transmission
• Airborne transmission

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/glossary.htm
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Direct Transmission

• Direct transmission occurs when an infectious
  agent is transferred directly into the body such
  as through the eyes, nose, mouth, or through a
  break in the skin such as a cut on the finger.
  Infectious agents are spread directly in the
  following ways
• Person-to-person
• through physical contact including touching,
  biting, hugging, or kissing
• Example MRSA, Hepatitis
• Animal-to-person
• through physical contact, bites, and scratches
• Example Ringworm, Rabies
• Infectious droplets
• during coughing, sneezing, talking, singing, and
  spitting
• (spread is limited to approximately three feet)
• Example Cold, Influenza

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/glossary.htm
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Indirect Transmission

• Infectious diseases are spread indirectly through
  vehicles and vectors.
• Vehicle-borne transmission
• Some infectious agents can linger on inanimate
  objects, such as desks, chairs, computer
  keyboards, doorknobs, faucets, toys, eating
  utensils, or clothing.
• Example Touching a pencil used by a person
  infected with the flu and then touching the eyes,
  nose, or mouth before performing hand hygiene.
• Other vehicles include food, water, and
  biological products such as blood and body
  fluids.
• Example Eating peanut butter contaminated with
  Salmonella, or pepperoni contaminated with E.
  coli.
• Vector-borne transmission
• Common vectors include insects, such as
  mosquitoes, ticks, and lice.
• Example Becoming infected with West Nile Virus
  as a result of being bittenby an infected
  mosquito, or sharing a comb with someone who has
  head lice.

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/glossary.htm
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Airborne Transmission

• Airborne transmission is the spread of infectious
  agents as aerosols that usually enter the
  respiratory tract. Unlike the infectious
  droplets, these tiny particles have the ability
  to remain suspended in the air for long periods
  of time and travel long distances.
• Tuberculosis, chicken pox, and the measles are
  examples
• of infectious diseases spread by airborne
  particles.
• Example An individual becomes infected with
  Severe Acute
• Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) by inhaling
  infectious
• airborne particles while on a crowded bus.

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/glossary.htm
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Importance of Hand Hygiene

• Hand hygiene, including handwashing and the use
  of hand sanitizer, is extremely important in
  preventing infectious disease transmission in a
  classroom environment.
• Many people tend to minimize the significance of
  hand hygiene, often forgetting or eliminating
  hand washing due to busy schedules, lack of
  available soap and water, and inconvenience, but
  this is the single most important practice to
  prevent the spread of infectious disease. It is
  also the best method to protect children from
  infection in the classroom setting.

www.cdc.gov/cleanhands
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Handwashing

• Three necessary components of proper handwashing
  include
• Soap
• Clean water
• Friction

www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
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Proper Handwashing Technique

1. Wet hands with clean warm water.
2. Apply soap and rub hands together to create a
   lather.
3. Scrub all surfaces of the hands including the
   palms, back of hands, wrists, between fingers,
   and under fingernails.
4. Continue washing hands for 20 seconds, about the
   time it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song
   twice.
5. Rinse hands well to remove all soap.
6. Dry hands completely with a towel or air dryer.
7. If available, use a towel to turn off the faucet
   and open the door to avoid recontamination.

www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
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Easy to Miss Areas

• Using proper technique is essential to sanitizing
  hands effectively. Inadequate handwashing
  causes significant areas of the hands to be
  missed. All areas of the fingers, hands, and
  wrists must be covered during hand hygiene.
• By imagining the rapid method generally used when
  washing hands, it is easy to understand which
  places are most frequently ignored. Insufficient
  handwashing often involves rubbing the palms
  together with soap and water and possibly a quick
  swipe across the back of each hand. This is
  clearly depicted in the following diagram of
  frequently missed areas during handwashing.

www.foodlink.org.uk/factfile_c.asp?file2chapter
2 /
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Frequently Missed Areas
www.foodlink.org.uk/factfile_c.asp?file2chapter
2 /
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When to Wash Hands

• After blowing the nose, sneezing, or coughing
• After going to the bathroom
• After contact with blood or body fluids, such as
  saliva, nasal secretions, urine, feces, or vomit
• After PE or playing sports
• After playing outside at recess
• After handling garbage or waste
• When hands appear soiled
• Before preparing medicine or handling contact
  lenses

www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
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When to Wash Hands (2)

• Before preparing, serving, or handling food
• Before eating lunch or snacks
• Frequently when sick or after contact with others
  who are sick
• Before and after touching a cut or wound
• Before and after touching the eyes, nose, or
  mouth
• After handling animals, animal waste, or their
  belongings, such as toys or a leash
• After changing a diaper

www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
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Waterless Alcohol-basedHand Sanitizer

• When to Use
• Substitute when soap and water are not available.
• Ineffective for cleaning hands that are visibly
  dirty.
• Do not substitute when handling or preparing
  food.
• Do not overuse traditional handwashing is best.
• Supervise children while they use hand sanitizer.
• Two necessary components
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizer
• Friction

www.health.state.mn.us/handhygiene/clean.html
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Waterless Alcohol-based Hand Sanitizer Continued

• Proper Technique
• Apply small amount of hand sanitizer to the palm.
• Rub hands together covering all surfaces, much
  like when washing hands with soap and water.
• Rub until hand sanitizer is absorbed completely
  and hands become dry.

www.health.state.mn.us/handhygiene/clean.html
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Handwashing Absenteeism
 
Am J Infect Control 2002 28 340-6
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• A study of 305 school children found that those
  who washed their hands four times a day had 24
  fewer sick days due to respiratory illness and
  51 fewer sick days due to upset stomach.

www.cdc.gov
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Classroom Hand Washing Activity Ideas

• Practice washing hands properly with children.
  Have them sing the HAPPY BIRTHDAY song twice to
  demonstrate 20 seconds.
• Ask children to draw pictures of when it is a
  good idea to wash hands.
• Publish hand washing facts in bathroom stalls or
  school newsletter.
• For younger kids, place posters in restrooms
  illustrating children washing hands to encourage
  hand hygiene.

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Other Learning Activities

• Use fluorescent hand lotion to test hand washing
  effectiveness and to observe how germs spread
  between hands, surfaces, pens, etc.
• Swab high-traffic surfaces and culture on agar in
  a Petri dish or touch fingers to the agar and
  then incubate to demonstrate the growth of
  microorganisms.
• Share infection prevention training with parents
  at parent-teacher meetings to disseminate
  education to the home.

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Additional Activities Material
Please take a moment to explore the following
online resources for helpful teaching materials
about infection prevention. Some of the links
include suggestions for infection prevention
related lesson plans, a classroom experiment,
printable classroom activity sheets, and other
fun learning activities for children.

• HANDWASHING PROJECT IDEASMultidisciplinary
  activities for teachers and students to promote
  handwashing
• HAND HYGIENE EXPERIMENTClassroom science
  experiment to demonstrate persistence of bacteria
  and proper handwashing technique

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Fun Online Resources
The following are additional informative internet
links providing more resources to teach children
about infection prevention, including online
games that students can explore in the classroom
or at home.

• INFECTION DETECTION PROTECTION
• Fun interactive online activities provided by
  the American Museum of Natural History
• FIGHT BAC!
• Animated bacteria fighting games
• CLEAN HANDS COALITION
• List of handwashing resources for children and
  adults
• LATHER UP FOR GOOD HEALTH!
• Internet, Classroom, and Home Activities by
  SOFTSOAP

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Clean Classroom Environment

• Maintaining a clean classroom environment
  reduces the presence of germs and the spread of
  infectious diseases, and therefore, protects the
  health of students, teachers, school staff, and
  parents.

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General Infection Prevention
Following general infection prevention measures
and maintaining personal hygiene reduces the
spread of infectious diseases in a school setting.

• Encourage children, teachers, and all school
  personnel to wash hands frequently using soap and
  water for 15-20 seconds and to assist children as
  needed.
• Substitute alcohol-based hand sanitizer when
  clean water and soap are unavailable.
• Promote appropriate respiratory etiquette Cover
  coughs and sneezes with tissue. Throw away
  tissues immediately and use hand hygiene. If a
  tissue is not available, sneeze or cough into the
  elbow or upper sleeve.

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General Infection Prevention (2)

• Teach children to properly dispose of used
  tissues.
• Provide tissues and trash receptacles in
  classrooms and on school buses.
• Advise parents to keep sick children home from
  school.
• Remain at home when ill and encourage others to
  do the same.
• Avoid close contact (less than 3 feet of space)
  with those who are sick.
• Maintain and promote good personal hygiene bathe
  and wash hands regularly.
• Discourage touching the eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Maintain a clean classroom environment.
• Ensure commonly used areas such as door handles,
  eating surfaces, and desks are clean and
  disinfected.

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General Infection Prevention (3)

• Keep open wounds clean and covered with a bandage
  until healed.
• Avoid contact with other peoples wounds and
  bandages.
• Discourage sharing eating utensils, glassware, or
  personal items such as toothbrushes, combs,
  razors, towels, clothing or other items that come
  into contact with bare skin.
• Clean shared sports equipment with antiseptic
  before each use or use a cloth or a towel as a
  barrier between the skin and the equipment.
• Avoid skin-to-skin contact with anyone who has a
  Staph infection.
• Encourage a healthy lifestyle that includes a
  nutritious diet and adequate sleep.

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Additional Considerations

• The incorporation of animals into the classroom
  environment can provide many beneficial learning
  experiences for children. It is important to keep
  in mind the risks of Zoonotic Diseases, or those
  that are transmissible from animals to humans.
• The following considerations are important when
  dealing with
• animals in a classroom
• Always wash hands very thoroughly after touching
  animals or their belongings
• Ensure animals have current vaccinations and
  receive annual veterinary exams
• Bathe animals regularly
• Avoid contact with animal waste or food
• Only handle a new animal with permission and
  supervision
• Teach children the proper way to handle the animal

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The End

• This concludes the train-the-trainer activity,
  Infection Prevention in the Classroom Setting.
  We hope you have enjoyed this presentation and
  will utilize and share this information with your
  schools to help keep children healthy and prevent
  the spread of infection in the classroom setting.

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Contact Information

• USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness
• Texas AM Health Science Center
• School of Rural Public Health
• 1266 TAMU
• College Station, Texas 77843-1266
• Phone [phone]
• E-mail USACenter_at_srph.tamhsc.edu
• The CDC-funded Centers for Public Health
  Preparedness are a national network of academic
  institutions working in collaboration with state
  and local public health departments and other
  community partners to provide life-long learning
  opportunities to the public health workforce in
  order to handle the next public health crisis.