Prevent Infections

1. Clean Your Hands

• Use soap and warm water. Rub your hands really well for at least 20 seconds. Rub your palms, fingernails, in between your fingers, and the backs of your hands.
• Or if your hands do not look dirty, clean them with alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Rub the sanitizer all over your hands, especially under your nails and between your fingers, until your hands are dry.
• Clean your hands before touching or eating food. Clean them after you use the bathroom, handle the trash, change a diaper, visit someone who is ill, or play with a pet. 

2. Make Sure Healthcare Providers Clean Their Hands 

• Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers come into contact with a lot of bacteria and viruses. So before they treat you, if you are unsure, you may ask them if they’ve cleaned their hands.
• Healthcare providers should wear clean gloves when they perform tasks, such as taking throat cultures, taking blood, touching wounds or body fluids, or examining your mouth or other areas. Don’t be afraid to ask them to wear gloves.

3. Practice Proper Coughing and Sneezing Etiquette

Many diseases are spread through sneezes and coughs. When you sneeze or cough, the germs can travel three feet or more! To help stop the spread of germs:

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
• Put your used tissue in a waste basket.
• If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve, not your hands.
• Perform hand hygiene right away.

4. If You Are Sick, Avoid Close Contact With Others

• If you are sick, stay away from other people or stay home. Don’t shake hands or touch others.
• When you go for medical treatment, call ahead and ask if there’s anything you can do to avoid infecting people in the waiting room.

5. Get Vaccinations to Avoid Disease and Fight the Spread of Infection

• Make sure that your vaccinations are current—even for adults. Check with your physician about vaccinations you may need.
• Vaccinations are available to prevent these diseases:
• Chicken pox 
• Diphtheria
• Flu (influenza) 
• Hepatitis A and B 
• Human papillomavirus (HPV) 
• Measles 
• Meningitis 
• Mumps 
• Pertussis (whooping cough) 
• Pneumonia (Strep pneumonia) 
• Rubella (German measles) 
• Shingles 
• Tetanus
• COVID-19 (may prevent or reduce severity of COVID)