Understanding and improving hygiene and healthcare products is essential for improving infection prevention. Continuing Woodhead Publishing s series of specialised medical textile books, Textiles for hygiene and infection control provides readers with the latest developments in healthcare materials for hygiene and infection applications.
Part one offers an insight into design and production techniques for hygiene textiles. Chapters discuss nanotechnology and it s applications in hygiene textiles, knitted spacer fabrics, innovative and sustainable packaging and biodegradable hygiene products. Part two explores design and production techniques for infection control textiles. Chapters examine micro-organisms, infection and the role of textiles, the creation of barrier textiles through plasma processing and methods for ensuring fabrics survive sterilisation. Part three concludes by investigating the variety of available hygiene and infection control products. Chapters consider washable textile-based absorbent products for incontinence, coated textiles for skin infections and antimicrobial treatments of textiles for hygiene and infection control applications from an industrial perspective.
Textiles for hygiene and infection control is an essential reference for manufacturers, designers, engineers and producers of hygiene and infection control products. It is also a useful tool for medical scientists, surgeons and nurses.
Offers insight into design and production techniques for hygiene textilesChapters discuss a range of applications, such as the use of textiles for incontinenceAn essential reference for manufacturers, designers, engineers and producers of hygiene and infection control products"

Epidemiology has long played a critical role in investigating outbreaks of foodborne illness and in identifying the microbial pathogens associated with such illness. Epidemiologists were the detectives who would track down the guilty culprit- the food vehicle carrying the pathogen, as well as the fateful errors that resulted in contamination or multiplication of pathogens. The first book of its kind, this volume describes the various ways epidemiologic principles are applied to meet the challenges of maintaining a safe food supply. It addresses both the prevention and control of food borne illness. Starting with a history and background of food borne illness, the book continues by describing the means of following up on an outbreak and measuring exposures. The book concludes by describing the regulatory context that shapes food safety activities at the local, national and international levels. Chapters are written by leaders in the field of public health and food safety, including experts in epidemiology, microbiology, risk assessment, economics, and environmental health and policy. This is the definitive book for students, researchers and professionals interested in how epidemiology plays a role in keeping our food safe.

The first and second editions of Food Microbiology and Hygiene are established reference texts for the food industry, giving practical information on food microbiology, hygiene, quality assurance and factory design. This third edition has been revised and updated to include the latest developments concerning HACCP, food legislation and modern methods of microbial examination. The book is designed for microbiologists working in the food industry, quality assurance personnel and academic researchers.

Decontamination in Hospitals and Healthcare, Second Edition, enables users to obtain detailed knowledge of decontamination practices in healthcare settings, including surfaces, devices, clothing and people, with a specific focus on hospitals and dental clinics.

This book provides essential guidance to help schools in developing countries to promote and maintain hand hygiene practices, thus reducing the prevalence of infectious diseases such as diarrhoea and respiratory infection that cause both illness and absenteeism. Discussing both the challenges that hinder hand hygiene practices and the opportunities available to promote positive behaviours, it is particularly timely since the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, where infection could also be passed on through the hands. Drawing on both evidence-based research and successful interventions in specific countries, the book builds to offer a best-practice manual to address this important issue. This will be ideal reading for public health and community health working in developing regions, as well as those working for NGO's.

The globalization and commercialization of the food system has unintentionally led to the introduction of new foodborne parasites in countries worldwide. Fortunately, advances in detection and control are providing the basis for a better understanding of the biology and control of parasitic infections, and this in turn will likely contribute to the reduction and hopefully elimination of parasitic foodborne outbreaks. Building on the first edition, this completely revised second edition of Foodborne Parasites covers the parasites most associated with foodborne transmission and therefore of greatest global public health relevance. The volume examines protozoa and their subgroups: the amoeba, coccidia, flagellates and ciliates. Chapters also address Trypanosoma cruzi, recently recognized as an emerging foodborne protozoan. The helminth section is expanded to cover teniasis, cysticercosis, hydatidosis, and the trematodes and nematodes including Angiostrongylus, which is present worldwide. Finally, the editors examine the burden and risk assessment determinations that have provided a scientific framework for developing policies for the control of foodborne parasites.

Presents the latest research in the control of foodborne pathogens. Emphasizes traditional and emerging techniques as well as current applications for the inactivation of microorganisms to reduce illness and enhance food safety and quality.

Infection control is fundamental to delivering effective health and social care at all levels. However, health and social care professionals' actual behaviour can sometimes seem intractable to the most rigorous training and promotion of safe practice - including even basic hygiene precautions. Many have identified this problem, but few have addressed why it occurs and how practices can lastingly be changed. This book reaches beyond a prescriptive approach to infection control behaviour, examining the psychosocial forces that affect individual and group behaviours in practice. It gives a strong theoretical framework for practitioners, supervisors and managers to reflect upon and challenge behaviour, before providing practical advice on how to create, supervise and promote genuinely consistent safe practice. This book aims to challenge fundamentally the way health and social care professionals, supervisors and managers approach infection control and hygiene - and in doing so to dramatically improve the health and safety of their patients, clients, colleagues and the public.

This is a fully revised new edition of this acclaimed practical manual.Indispensable for fieldworkers on projects or programs aiming to reduce the incidence of water-and-sanitation-related diseases, this book will also be useful for other relief and development workers, particularly those working in the fields of community development, health, and engineering.The authors describe a wide range of approaches to hygiene promotion that can be used in different settings. Central to these approaches is a commitment to working in collaboration with people and encouraging them to take more control over the factors that influence their lives. The authors stress the need for a form of hygiene promotion that fosters capacity-building rather than the provision of information alone.The opening chapter of the manual introduces the reader to the context of emergency relief and development projects and provides insights into current hygiene promotion theory. The main body of the text then goes on to consider the four phases of the project cycle--assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation--each of which is assigned a chapter for discussion. These chapters draw together the experience of hygiene promotion fieldworkers in many emergency and rehabilitation, water, sanitation, and hygiene program undertaken by CARE and other agencies. The annex comprises other useful material including a series of concise "how-to" guides, pictures for use or adaptation in the field, information about hygiene-related diseases and how to prevent them, and an annotated bibliography.

As screening programs for HIV, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, genetic abnormalities and other risk factors continue to proliferate, difficult questions are continually raised concerning the psychological and behavioral effects on the participants. Although members of the public health community have debated the costs and benefits of screening programs for over three decades, these questions have become especially pertinent with the current emphasis on early disease detection and prevention. While advocates argue that risk notification provides the impetus for individuals to improve their health habits and seek early treatment, skeptics contend that risk screening can have an adverse labeling effect, leading to increased anxiety, work absenteeism, and fatalism.
Now, for the first time, the widely scattered body of research on the effects of risk factor screening is comprehensively reviewed and evaluated in this volume. Here, an internationally recognized group of expert contributors summarizes and discusses current knowledge about the psychosocial consequences of risk factor testing, taking into account individual differences, gender differences, risk status, and intervention strategies. Both the public health and behavioral science viewpoints are explored through up-to-date reviews and stimulating commentary. Bridging the gap between data, theory and public health policy, this volume is essential reading for researchers, professionals and policymakers concerned with the prevention of acute and chronic disease.

This is a unique, in-depth discussion of the uses and conduct of cost-effectiveness analyses (CEA) as decision-making aids in the health and medical fields. The product of over two years of deiberation by a multi-disciplinary Public Health Service appointed panel that included economists, ethicists, psychometricians, and clinicians, it explores cost-effectiveness in the context of societal decision-making for resource allocation purposes. It proposes that analysts include a "reference-case" analysis in all CEA's designed to inform resource allocation and puts forth the most expicit set of guidelines (together with their rationale) ever outlined of the conduct of CEAs. Important theoretical and practical issues encountered in measuring costs and effectiveness, valuing outcomes, discounting, and dealing with uncertainty are examined in separate chapters. These discussions are complemented by additional chapters on framing and reporting of CEAs that aim to clarify the purpose of the analysis and the effective communication of its findings. Primarily intended for analysts in medicine and public health who wish to improve practice and comparability of CEAs, this book will also be of interest to decision-makers in government, managed care, and industry who wish to consider the roles and limitations of CEA and become familiar with criteria for evaluating these studies.

The first comprehensive, authoritative review of one of the most fundamental and important issues in infection control and patient safety, hand hygiene. Developed and presented by the world's leading scholar-clinicians, Hand Hygiene is an essential resource for all medical professionals. * Developed and presented by the world leaders in this fundamental topic * Fully integrates World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and policies * Offers a global perspective in tackling hand hygiene issues in developed and developing countries * Coverage of basic and highly complex clinical applications of hand hygiene practices * Includes novel and unusual aspects and issues in hand hygiene such as religious and cultural aspects and patient participation * Offers guidance at the individual, institutional, and organizational levels for national and worldwide hygiene promotion campaigns

This book describes the issues of human health and healthcare from the point of view of hygiene monitoring and maintenance. Also, the perspectives on the effects of microbial cell structures, metabolism, communities and interactions on health and hygiene are included. Besides microbiological screening of patients, surfaces, air space etc. this book introduces some key bacteriological, virological and fungal risks in the clinical setting. It describes routes of contamination inside hospitals, and into our body. The means for prevention of the spreading of unwanted microbes are presented as well. Protection mechanisms of the bodily system and the balances of the human microbiome are discussed with respect to intrusions via the respiratory or digestive systems or damaged skin. The risks during operations or invasive treatments are highlighted, together with means for avoiding them. Examples of biofilm formation on the devices or on the body surfaces, latent infections, contagion mechanisms, as well as prevalent risks such as mycobacterial infections, antibiotic resistant strains, intracellular pathogens, nosocomial viruses, lowered host defences, Clostridium difficile, salmonellas, legionellas are included in the chapters of this book. Important developments such as personalized medicine, point-of-care diagnostics, arthroscopy, improved drug delivery, pre- and probiotic treatments, monitoring of the normal flora and its beneficial effects are also discussed.

This book is an excellent review of health promotion in the context of the pharmacy practice. Since the publication of the first edition, major changes have taken place in the involvement of pharmacists in health promotion. Health promotion is now a core role for community (retail) pharmacist and health promotion is now taught as a core-subject in all schools of pharmacy. The misuse of drugs is now a greater problem than ever before and pharmacists need updating in this area. Pharmacists have the monopoly on sales of nicotine replacement therapy and are now the key group involved in opportunistic advice to those who want to stop smoking. The book aims to inform pharmacists about all major health issues such as the effects of smoking; nutrition; exercise; oral health; family planning; woman's' health; child health; travel health; alcohol and mental health. The authors show pharmacists what they can achieve in health promotion stressing the social and behavioural aspects. There are key chapters on the major health challenges facing the 21 Century, the social inequalities of health and health care, problems in achieving behavioural change, and the importance of good communication especially about risks.

From pre-historic grooming rituals to New Age medicine, from ascetics to cosmetics, Clean looks at how different cultures have interpreted and striven for personal cleanliness and shows how, throughout history, this striving for purity has brought immense social benefits as well as great tragedies.
Looking at human history through the lens of public baths, lavatories, laundry, teeth cleaning, cosmetics, food storage and panty liners, Virginia Smith here combines archeology, psychology, biology, and other fields to illuminate our modern obsession cleanliness. She peppers her entertaining account with engaging and often surprising details. The book reveals, for instance, that even at the earliest stages of human development, our bodies produced pleasure-giving chemical opiates when things smelled or felt clean, inducing us to bathe or at least remove dirty clothes. She describes how, during the Bronze Age, an emerging hierarchy of wealthy elites turned their love of grooming into an explosion of the cosmetic and luxury goods industry, greatly affecting the culture and economy of Eurasia and leading to advances in chemistry and medicine. Likewise, in Greece and Rome, citizens focused much of their leisure time on perfecting, bathing, or just writing about the model athletic body. Even today, our enlightened medical knowledge could not stop an onslaught of health remedies, treatments, spas, and New Age nature cures--all in the pursuit of purity.
This engrossing and highly original work will introduce you to the customs and ideas of a myriad of cultures across centuries of human history, providing a marvelous new perspective on the importance of cleanliness to humancivilization.
"Utterly engaging."
--New York Times
"An authoritative and fascinating account of how hygiene has transformed societies and how, sometimes, humanity's attempts to scrub up can backfire."
--New Scientist

Nicotine has been developed as a medication to assist smoking cessation, and is being considered as a possible drug for long-term maintenance of non-smoking. It is also undergoing evaluation as a possible treatment for several medical disorders, including ulcerative colitis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Tourette's syndrome, attention deficit disorder, spasticity, and sleep apnea. Understanding its safety and toxitity is essential for drug developers, drug regulators, and clinicians making risk/benefit decisions about long-term nicotine therapy. Research on nicotine toxicity is also relevant to ongoing research on tobacco and health aimed at understanding the role of nicotine in contributing to tobacco-induced diseases. This book reviews the current scientific understanding of the safety and toxicity of nicotine. The discussion ranges from chemistry, studies in animals and human experimental research to the results of large clinical trials. Among the topics covered are cardiovascular disease, cancer, reproductive toxicity (including fetal toxicity and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), behavioral toxicity (including abuse liability and addiction to nicotine medication), and gastrointestinal disease. Finally, contributions explore the risks and benefits of nicotine as a medication. The authors are world-renowned experts on their respective topics. No other book addresses nicotine toxicity in the depth or breadth of this volume. A book on the cutting edge of contemporary public health discourse, Nicotine Safety is an up-to-date and lucid overview of current knowledge on the subject. It will be a necessary addition to the bookshelves of clinicians with an interest in tobacco and health, drug developers and researchers, pharmacologists and toxicologists, public health researchers and policy-makers.

This book examines mortality rates for African-Americans in selected U.S. urban areas in relation to both social class and the degree of black-white residential segregation. Mortality rates for African-American infants and young adults are shown to be especially high in certain highly-segregated areas. The findings will foster the development of the "epidemiology of American apartheid", a new field of research that has relevance to social and health policy. The intended audience includes sociologists (especially medical sociologists) who are likely to be familiar with segregation but not with its potential relevance to the health of African-Americans. Epidemiologists have recently turned to the study of racism and health, but epidemiologic studies have not dealt specifically with black-white segregation and health. Psychologists interested in racism are important potential collaborators with sociologists and epidemiologists in studies of the epidemiology of racial difference in health. Readers working in social policy and health policy areas, including urban issues, should also find relevant material. This work fits within the framework of Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal's thesis that the American creed of equality of opportunity remains unfulfilled.

Chronic diseases and premature death can often be linked to social, environmental, and behavioral factors that are subject to modification, especially during adolescence when many habits--both good and bad--are formed. In order to effectively encourage good health-related behaviors among adolescents, health providers need an integrated understanding of the many factors involved. This volume fills that need by providing the most comprehensive, up-to-date review of the pertinent issues, including in-depth discussions on adolescent sexuality, substance abuse, the future of adolescent health promotion, and the relationship between socioeconomic status and health-related behaviors. The outstanding group of contributors represents a wide variety of disciplines and offers proven techniques and approaches that can help future adults enjoy longer, safer, more productive lives. With an emphasis on practical solutions, Promoting the Health of Adolescents will be of value to health and social scientists, health care providers, educators, and administrators who plan and implement programs for adolescent health.

Effective public health strategies depend on surveillance, preventative measures, outbreak investigation and the institution of control measures including appropriate treatment. This handbook, written specifically for community nurses, describes the communicable diseases likely to be encountered by the community nurse and offers practical guidance on their assessment and treatment. The book looks at staff hygiene and a clean environment and examines the causes and management of blood-borne illnesses together with recommendations for the treatment of head lice, scabies and threadworms. The latter part of the book discusses the prevention of influenza and the rising incidence of tuberculosis and the care of patients with these conditions and considers other common infections such as MRSA, impetigo, shingles and meningitis.

This is a new paperback edition of the well received text Spatial Epidemiology: methods and applications. It is an easy to read, clear and concise exploration of the field of geographical variations in disease. Especially with respect to variations in environmental exposures at the small-area scale this book gives an authoritative account of current practice and developments. The recent and rapid expansion of the field looks set to continue in line with growing public, governmental and media concern about environmental and health issues, and the scientific need to understand and explain the effects of environmental pollutants on health.

Of interest to epidemiologists, public health practitioners, statisticians, geographers, environmental scientists and others concerned with understanding the geographical distribution of disease and the effects of environmental exposures on human health. It will be a valuable source for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in epidemiology, medical geography, biostatistics, environmental health and environmental science as well as a useful source of reference for health policy makers, health economists, regulators and others in the field of environmental health.

Cardiovascular disease remains the greatest cause of morbidity and mortality. Over the past 10-15 years many studies have clarified the risks that are important, and the interventions which are effective. This book breaks new ground in both providing clear recommendations on what should be done, and the evidence on which these recommendations are based. It accords with current views that guidelines should be based on evidence, and that the evidence should be clear. The book is split into three sections: the first reviews the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and the clinical effectiveness of reducing them; the second examines methods of implementation in practice; and the final section makes practical recommendations, explicitly based on the evidence in the fist two sections.

SOAP SAVES LIVES. But did you know that excessive use of soap and skin-care products is harming our health and the environment? Apart from in hand-washing there is no need to use soap on our bodies at all? Doctor and preventative medicine expert James Hamblin gave up showering five years ago and only ever uses soap on his hands. In Clean, he takes us on an irreverent and entertaining journey through our complex relationship with our bodies and cleanliness. Drawing on the latest science, he introduces a new way to think about cleanliness - one that is cheaper, simpler and better for our skin, our immunity and the world in which we live. * With a new afterword by the author * 'Fun, interesting and credible' New York Times 'Persuasive... Clean made me chuckle and then left me thoughtful' Daily Telegraph