The daily patrons of a local town restaurant became ill with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Without knowing the cause, which of the following actions should be taken immediately to help avoid future problems?

Question

a. Establish a series of cooking classes for all citizens
b. Have a citywide campaign to cover your mouth when sneezing
c. Use bleach to clean the entire restaurant
d. Strongly emphasize the importance of proper hand washing to staff

Answer 1

ANS: D
Agents leave the human host through a portal of exit and invade through a portal of entry. Portals of exit include respiratory secretions, vaginal secretions, semen, saliva, lesion exudates, blood, and feces. Portals of entry are associated with the portal of exit and include the respiratory passages, mucous membranes, skin and blood vessels, oral cavity, and the placenta. Because it was food poisoning of some sort, until the cause is known, it can be assumed to probably be a fecal-oral transmission. Thus, the interventions of cooking classes, covering your mouth when sneezing, and using bleach to clean the entire restaurant would be ineffective. Therefore, staff need to again be reminded of the importance of careful hand washing after using the facilities.