For obvious reasons, this almost never happens deliberately. Usually, the situation occurs when an infected person might forget to properly wash their hands after using the toilet. Anything they touch afterward might be contaminated with microscopic germs that other people may encounter.
Microbe Transmission
Food workers must be extra diligent about hand hygiene because they are in a position to easily spread a fecal-oral disease through the food they prepare to anyone who eats it. In many cases of foodborne illness outbreaks, poor hand hygiene is the precipitating factor.
While poor hand washing is a major cause of fecal-oral contamination, there are other equally important considerations. Here are other ways microbes use the fecal-oral route to cause disease:
Drinking water contaminated with raw sewage. Eating shellfish (such as oysters and clams) that have been harvested from contaminated water. Eating raw fruits or vegetables washed in contaminated water. Sexual activity that allows direct mouth-to-anus contact or indirect contact (touching the mouth to something that touched the anus). Swimming pools that aren’t properly disinfected.
Viral Hepatitis
There are many microbes that can be passed along through the fecal-oral route, including two of the hepatitis viruses, hepatitis A and hepatitis E. The other hepatotropic viruses spread by direct contact with infected blood, such as from sharing used needles, bodily fluid, or through childbirth.
Prevention
Good handwashing is a tremendously effective way to break the fecal-oral cycle. Other important tools for preventing the spread of disease through fecal-oral transmission include:
Using instant hand sanitizers when soap and water are not availablePracticing safe and careful food-handling practicesAvoiding ingestion of water in pools or from other non-potable sourcesUsing disposable towelsCleaning or disinfecting commonly touched, infected surfaces such as doorknobs, faucet handles, remote controls, etc.
