9 ways to keep your family healthy when someone suffers from chickenpox or other infectious conditions

Is someone in your family down with chickenpox? Here is how to quarantine a person with an infectious disease at home.

Written By: Mansi Kohli | Updated : January 31, 2017 10:46 AM IST

Germs are a part of our lives. They can be found everywhere from food to toys to even people and at times through water supply. What s difficult here is to understand whether there are enough germs to cause an infection and how contagious the condition a family member has. But with outrage of infectious conditions like chicken pox and crummy cold virus, one must be aware of ways that doesn t drag the whole household down. Rahul Tambe, General Physician atNanavati Super Specialty Hospital, Mumbai, enlightens us on the top 9 ways by which we can keep our family healthy in case of infectious conditions.

Make the water safe for the infected person and all the family members: Avoid sharing utensils. Use filtered or bottled water which helps prevent infection from airborne infections like chickenpox, measles, influenza & tuberculosis and infections from fecal and oral route like gastroenteritis and typhoid.
Understand the importance of washing your hands:Use generous amount of soap and water. Hands should be rubbed together with digits interlocking while washing. Scrub for minimum duration of 15 seconds and preferably use paper rolls for drying. Read more about Hygiene in indoor play areas: Are your kids safe?
The key lies in disinfecting high-touch areas: Touch areas including doorknobs, phones, brackets, mirrors etc. are important sources for transmissible infection. They should be disinfected using household disinfectants like chlorine or phenols. They should be cleaned using disposable paper rolls or cloths.
Infected person should always cover their mouth: The infected person should cover their mouth with a clean cloth to prevent transmission of airborne diseases like influenza and tuberculosis.
Annual flu shots are crucial: One should get vaccinated annually to protect against influenza. Anyone who is 6 months and older should be injected with all Flu vaccines, inactivated influenza vaccine & recombinant influenza vaccine. Read more How is chickenpox treated? (Query)
Trash those tissues: Tissues used for blowing nose or cleaning hands should be disposed preferably by flushing down the drain or disposed in a trash-can carefully as they can spread infection easily.
Use synthetic insect repellents: Insect repellents help to prevent or control insect-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and Lyme disease. Synthetic repellents tend to be more effective and long lasting than natural repellents
Meal sharing and drinking from same bottle should also be prohibited: Normally, meals should not be eaten in the same plate used by an infected person nor should water be drunk from the glass/bottle of an infected person as there is an increased risk of contracting the disease.
Keep bathroom hygienic: The bathroom should be cleaned regularly with bathroom sanitizers including alcohols aldehydes such as formaldehydes, chlorine & phenolic compounds to keep it hygienic and germ-free.