Cities on the coast of São Paulo, especially Guarujá and Praia Grande, have been in the news in recent days due to cases of diarrheal diseases. The São Paulo State Department of Health advises the population to take some precautions to prevent the spread of contamination by these diseases.
“Faced with the increase in gastroenteritis, the main recommendation is to reinforce hand hygiene, especially before eating and before preparing any type of food, and avoiding undercooked foods. If you are going to consume food outside your home, be aware of the hygiene issues of the establishment in question”, warned the director of the Division of Waterborne and Foodborne Diseases of the State Department of Health, Alessandra Lucchesi, in an interview with Brazil Agency.
For the consumption of water, ice and ice cream, the warning is that they must be from reliable sources and that treated water must be used. Furthermore, regarding storage, it is recommended that food be properly refrigerated, due to the high temperatures observed at the beginning of the year.
To disinfect water at home, people can use 2.5% sodium hypochlorite (bleach) if they notice any change in color, taste or smell in the water supplied by the public supply system. “The recommended proportion is two drops per liter of water, wait 30 minutes before consuming it, both for drinking, cooking or even washing utensils”, advised the director. She highlights that sodium hypochlorite is available free of charge in all basic health units (UBSs).
In the case of municipalities, the state government’s recommendation is to pay attention to emergency care units, which are the services normally most sought after during this period, and to check the increase in visits for acute diarrheal disease. Recommendations for collecting and organizing flows are also made.
“From that, [a orientação é que] start monitoring the territories so that we can understand which neighborhoods have the highest incidence of cases. And then, with all the procedures that are already routine, carry out notification, investigation and, when applicable, collect fecal samples, water samples or even investigate a possible common source of contamination that may be some food,” said Alessandra Lucchesi.
Another way to prevent diarrheal diseases, highlighted the director, is not to bathe on beaches classified as unsuitable. To check the quality of sea water, there is a monitoring the water situation in the website from the Environmental Company of the State of São Paulo (Cetesb). Of the 175 beaches frequented by bathers in the state of São Paulo and monitored by Cetesb, 38 are unsuitable for bathing.
The population can also monitor the beach flag: if it is red, this indicates that the beach is unsuitable for swimming. It is not recommended to bathe in water 24 hours after rain, due to the risk of displacing some waste into the sea water. “These precautionary measures already help considerably in interrupting the transmission of these diarrheal diseases and gastroenteritis in general”, highlighted Alessandra Lucchesi.
