Good hygiene is necessary to avoid reinfection. The Rockefeller Foundation's hookworm campaign in Mexico in the 1920s was extremely effective at eliminating hookworm from humans with the use of anthelmintics. However, preventative measures were not adequately introduced to the people that were treated. Therefore, the rate of reinfection was extremely high and the project evaluated through any sort of scientific method was a marked failure. More education was needed to inform the people of the importance of wearing shoes, using latrines (better access to sanitation), and good hygiene.<unk>  parasite prevention methods are not isolated to specific geographical areas; however, many of the research-based interventions have primarily taken place in underdeveloped countries and regions, where sanitation is a large concern for spreading disease.Current best practice behaviors that prevent<unk>  parasites include: using proper hand washing practices, using correctly-built latrines with ample ventilation, having a piped water source, and wearing shoes. Currently, in some parts of Ethiopia where disease prevalence is high, up to 80% of people in a population lack access to washing facilities. While this is high, 93% did have access to a latrine, but only 29.2% of those latrines had proper construction to decrease parasitic infections. Behavioral interventions have focused on promoting washing, sometimes with soap, in context of education at schools and child care facilities. In recent studies, the best interventions follow a multidisciplinary approach by: * Increasing environmental sanitation to promote hand washing and shoe wearing habits * Educating children at young ages at school and at home Specific evidence-based interventions that may lower disease prevalence include: * Interventions at schools, focusing on the construction of pit latrines (ventilated and improved), providing clean drinking water and educating the students about hygiene * The SAFE (surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, environmental sanitation) strategy to address trachoma, primarily the facial cleanliness and the environmental sanitation components * Hand-washing with soap at critical times and nail clipping to decrease reinfection rates, although further research is needed to develop and implement similar interventions at scale * Programs combining anthelmintic drug administration with interventions to increase environmental sanitation (such as decreasing fecal contamination)
Intestinal parasite infection
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis
Pinworm infection
Hookworm infection
Intestinal infectious diseases
Behavior-altering parasite
Protozoan infection
Foreign body in alimentary tract