Military actions are not only the direct harmful effects of weapons. They also cause indirect damage due to the destruction of infrastructure, non-compliance with the norms of burial of the dead, difficulties in carrying out anti-epidemic measures, the inability to provide qualified medical care in occupied or frontline territories, and the lack of clean drinking and tap water. All these factors affect the ability of some infections to spread at a higher rate. In particular, dysentery (shigellosis) belongs to them.
The variety of clinical forms, the presence of fatal cases only confirm the relevance of the problem of shigellosis morbidity. For the purpose of prevention and in accordance with the decision of the extraordinary meeting of the regional commission on technogenic and environmental safety and emergencies of the Kharkiv region dated January 16, 2025, the Main Department of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in the Kharkiv region reminds of the danger of dysentery (shigellosis) and the main methods of its prevention.
Dysentery (shigellosis) is an acute intestinal infection characterized by damage to the gastrointestinal tract. It can occur both in the form of single cases and entire outbreaks, affecting a large number of people. The reservoir and source of the pathogen is a person - a sick person or an asymptomatic carrier (a person in whom the pathogen is secreted, but whose health is not affected because the immune system has adapted to it). The pathogen enters the human body through dirty hands, when consuming unwashed vegetables and fruits, through water and objects used by the patient. Pathogens are excreted from the body of a sick person starting from the first days. Contagion persists for 7-10 days. Symptoms of dysentery manifest as diarrhea (with blood) and general intoxication of the body (nausea, headache, dehydration, fever, lethargy, pain in the liver, stomach, vomiting, weakness, lack of appetite, bloating; frequent defecation, etc.).
The main cause of dysentery is a violation of personal hygiene rules! Therefore, rule number 1 for the prevention of dysentery is to wash your hands with soap every time after visiting the toilet. Adults should also not only teach children to wash their hands, but also to do it correctly. First, wet your hands with water, then lather them and rub the soap until a thick foam forms, then rinse the foam. Do this procedure two or three times. You should wash not only the back and palmar surfaces of your hands, but also between your fingers.
Also, to prevent dysentery, you must follow these rules:
- wash your hands thoroughly with soap before eating and preparing food;
- do not buy food in questionable places;
- heat-treat milk and dairy products purchased at farmers markets;
- do not allow the consumption of products of questionable quality and with expired expiration dates;
- for drinking and cooking, use only bottled water or water from centralized water supply sources (if there is a decentralized water supply (well), the water should be boiled before consumption);
- Wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly with running water, and blanch them in boiling water before feeding them to children.
If you experience symptoms of illness, do not self-medicate - immediately seek help from medical and preventive institutions.
It is easier to prevent diseases than to treat them for a long time and with difficulty.
Be healthy, take care of yourself and your loved ones!