Effects of hand hygiene campaigns on incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza and absenteeism in schoolchildren, Cairo, Egypt

OI: 10.3201/eid1704.101353
Suggested citation for this article: Talaat M, Afifi S, Dueger E, El-Ashry N, Marfin A, Kandeel A, et al. Effects of hand hygiene campaigns on incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza and absenteeism in schoolchildren, Cairo, Egypt. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 Apr; [Epub ahead of print]


Effects of Hand Hygiene Campaigns on Incidence of Laboratory-confirmed Influenza and Absenteeism in Schoolchildren, Cairo, Egypt
Maha Talaat, Salma Afifi, Erica Dueger, Nagwa El-Ashry, Anthony Marfin, Amr Kandeel, Ehmad Mohareb, and Nasr El-Sayed

Author affiliations: US Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 (NAMRU-3), Cairo (M. Talaat, S. Afifi, E. Dueger, A. Marfin, E. Mohareb); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (E. Dueger, A. Marfin); and Ministry of Health, Cairo, Egypt (N. El-Ashry, A. Kandeel, N. El-Sayed)

To evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive hand hygiene campaign on reducing absenteeism caused by to influenza-like illness (ILI), diarrhea, conjunctivitis, and laboratory-confirmed influenza, we conducted a randomized control trial in 60 elementary schools in Cairo, Egypt. Children in the intervention schools were required to wash hands twice daily, and health messages were provided through entertainment activities; Data were collected on student absenteeism and reasons for illness. School nurses collected nasal swabs from students with ILI, which were tested by using a qualitative diagnostic test for influenza A and B. Compared with results for the control group, in the intervention group, overall absences caused by ILI decreased (reduced 40%, p<0.0001), diarrhea (reduced 30%, p<0.0001), conjunctivitis (reduced 67%, p<0.0001), and laboratory-confirmed influenza (reduced 50%, p<0.0001). An intensive hand hygiene campaign was effective in reducing absenteeism caused by these illnesses. Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and diarrheal diseases cause substantial illness and death worldwide. Most of the estimated 5.5 million deaths associated with ARI and diarrhea occur in children from resource-limited countries. In these settings, where access to health services is often lacking, effective prevention methods are paramount. ARIs cause >4 million...

full-text: [15 pages]
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/17/4/pdfs/10-1353.pdf?source=govdelivery