Why Cough Etiquettes for TB patients?
Since transmission of TB is through air which comes when we cough or sneeze, we will see how best coughing etiquette practices can help in controlling the spread of TB.
Cough etiquette is especially important for infection control measures in hospital settings, as emergency departments, doctor’s offices, clinics, congested gatherings in trains, crowded market places, jails, unventilated rooms, etc.
How tuberculosis germs spread?
Does the aerosol size of droplets matter?
The Mycobacterium germs are generated when TB patients with pulmonary or laryngeal TB cough, sneeze, shout or sing. The germs are carried in airborne particles. These particles are approximately sized 1–5 µm; and they remain airborne for long periods and remain in the room/building. Once these droplet nuclei are inhaled by susceptible person they enter the mouth or nasal pages and enter the lungs alveoli.
The suggested cough etiquette methods do block major big sizes but droplets smaller than one-micron size may still get leaked even when practicing the maneuvers. This can still permit some spread but still they would lose their distance of transmission when present measures are used.
What are the hygiene practices involved in cough etiquettes?
- Coughing and Sneezing can be dry or with aerosol or with expectoration
- Where to spit the expectoration
- Hygiene etiquette prevents spread of illness and disease
- If nothing is available do not cough or sneeze into hands but do so on the upper sleeves
What to do when coughing?
- Ensure to cover their mouth with mask (helps in 53% reduction), cloth or handkerchief
- Do not cough directly into anybody’s face
- To spit into hygienic cough bin with sand particles
- To spit into a box with a lid the patient carries with him
- Throw spit into a bin with a disinfectant like sodium hypochlorite
- If any of the above is not possible, then the patient is to keep an old newspaper-cough the expectoration in it and then dispose it
What other practices to follow to stop spread of infection?
- Though TB does not spread from unclean hands, but many other serious respiratory illnesses do spread so washing hands with soap and running water or alcohol based sanitizers is suggested.
- Touching contaminated objects and touching face after that can allow spread.
- Another useful practice to avoid spread through cough is by avoiding close contact with people who are sick.
- Prefer well-ventilated rooms.
