Page 164 - 15Diarrhoeaandvomiting

Information and advice for parents and carers

Recommendation on preventing primary spread of diarrhoea and vomiting

Advise parents, carers and children that:*
• washing hands with soap (liquid if possible) in warm running water and careful drying are
the most important factors in preventing the spread of gastroenteritis
• hands should be washed after going to the toilet (children) or changing nappies (parents/
carers) and before preparing, serving or eating food
• towels used by infected children should not be shared
• children should not attend any school or other childcare facility while they have diarrhoea
or vomiting caused by gastroenteritis
• children should not go back to their school or other childcare facility until at least
48 hours after the last episode of diarrhoea or vomiting
• children should not swim in swimming pools for 2 weeks after the last episode of
diarrhoea.

* This recommendation is adapted from the following guidelines commissioned by the Department of Health:
Health Protection Agency. Guidance on Infection Control In Schools and other Child Care Settings. London: HPA; 2006 [www.hpa.org.
uk/web/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1194947358374]
Working Group of the former PHLS Advisory Committee on Gastrointestinal Infections. Preventing person-to-person spread following
gastrointestinal infections: guidelines for public health physicians and environmental health officers. Communicable Disease and Public
Health 2004;7(4):362–84.

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