Patient discussions
Patients should be advised of the importance of hand washing after using the toilet, changing nappies, and when preparing food. It is rare to get from Giardia pets, but people with cats or dogs can minimise their risk by cleaning and disinfecting surfaces regularly, wearing gloves when gardening, and washing hands after playing with pets or touching their food or supplies.[44]
Patients should also avoid drinking untreated water and should wash raw food thoroughly with treated water.
When travelling in endemic areas, patients should avoid uncooked food. Water should be boiled for 1 minute (or up to 3 minutes at elevations >500 feet) or filtered with an absolute pore size of 1 micrometre or less.[93] Chlorination or iodination is effective with longer contact times.[19][49]
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