The report “The chain of infection transmission in the home and everyday life settings, and the role of hygiene in reducing the risk of infection”

In July 2012 International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH) published the report “The chain of infection transmission in the home and everyday life settings, and the role of hygiene in reducing the risk of infection” Bloomfield SF, Exner M, Carlo Signorelli C, Nath KJ, Scott EA.

This is an update of the 2002 IFH review "The Infection Potential in the domestic setting and the role of hygiene".

The International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH) is a registered charity with the mission to provide practical advice and guidance on the promotion of health and wellbeing through improved hygiene. Its main activities include reviewing, interpreting, making accessible and communicating the scientific data relevant to preventing infectious disease transmission in the home.

The objectives of this IFH publication are:

· to assess the strength of the causal link between hygiene (infection prevention and control) practice and infectious disease in home (household) and everyday life settings

· to review the validity and applicability of the IFH risk-based approach to hygiene in home and everyday life settings

· to review the key factors to be considered in applying targeted hygiene as part of hygiene promotion programmes.

The database of scientific material used for developing this report includes microbiological data (laboratory and field-based) on how and to what extent pathogenic organisms enter the home and how they survive and are spread around the home environment. This is reviewed together with data on the extent to which we are exposed to these agents in our daily lives, and what is known about their infectivity (infectious doses). Data from epidemiological (intervention and observational studies) and data generated by quantitative microbial risk assessment is also reviewed. This report includes data related to infectious disease transmission from people (infected or carriers), contaminated food, infected faecal material, domestic animals (pets) etc. via hands, food (kitchen surfaces) and water contact surfaces, clothing and household linens, children’s toys, baths wash basins, toilets etc.

Although hygiene practice is now acknowledged universally as a cost effective means to reduce the burden of infectious diseases, in developing countries, the overriding priority for most governments is still the provision of clean drinking water, safe sanitation (excreta disposal) and environmental issues (control of waste water, disposal of refuse etc.).

The report is available on:

http://www.ifh-homehygiene.org/IntegratedCRD.nsf/eb85eb9d8ecd365280257545005e8966/9DF1597D905889868025729700617093/$File/IFHinfectiontransmissionreviewFINAL.pdf

Other data, more recently published, on the chain of infection transmission in the domestic home and everyday life settings, and the role of hygiene in reducing the risk of infection can be found in the IFH Library of Recent Publications, Topic 2 Infection transmission. This library is updated every 6 months with new publications related to home hygiene. These papers can be found at:

http://www.ifh-homehygiene.org/IntegratedCRD.nsf/IFH_Topic_Infection_Transmission?OpenForm

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for water and wetlands

The eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 11) from 8–19 October 2012 in Hyderabad, India showcased the new IEEP-led TEEB report — The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Water and Wetlands.

TEEB Water and Wetlands aims to contribute to the conservation, restoration and wise use of wetlands by presenting a global evidence base on ecosystem services’ values and the benefits of integrating those values in decision making at all levels.

The report highlights in particular the extent to which the global and local water cycles are strongly dependent on wetlands, and the fact that without wetlands the water, carbon and nutrient cycles would be significantly altered, usually detrimentally. The report illustrates that wetlands are vital to providing water-related ecosystem services, such as clean water for drinking, water for agriculture, cooling water for the energy sector and regulating water quantity (eg flood regulation). Wetlands also contribute to land formation and therefore resilience to storms, provide a wide range of services that are dependent on water, such as agricultural production, fisheries and tourism.

Through the use of a broad range of case-studies and practical examples, TEEB Water and Wetlands demonstrates how policy, investment, and water and land-use decisions can be based on the values and benefits associated with water and wetlands whilst also improving social and economic well-being.

http://www.ieep.eu/newsletter/autumn-2012/the-economics-of-ecosystems-and-biodiversity-for-water-and-wetlands /

The TEEB report is available on:

http://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/cop/cop-11/information/cop-11-inf-22-en.pdf