close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffNo drug can prevent giardia infection. But common-sense precautions can go a long way toward reducing the chances that you'll become infected or spread the infection to others.
- Wash your hands. This is the simplest and best way to prevent most kinds of infection. Wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers and before eating or preparing food. When soap and water aren't available, alcohol-based sanitizers are an excellent alternative.
- Purify wilderness water. Avoid drinking untreated water from shallow wells, lakes, rivers, springs, ponds and streams unless you filter it or boil it for at least 10 minutes at 158 F (70 C) first.
- Keep your mouth closed. Try not to swallow water when swimming in pools, lakes or streams.
- Use bottled water. When traveling to parts of the world where the water supply is likely to be unsafe, drink and brush your teeth with bottled water that you open yourself. Don't use ice, and avoid raw fruits and vegetables, even those you peel yourself.
- Practice safer sex. If you engage in anal sex, use a condom every time. Avoid oral-anal sex unless you're fully protected.
References
- Fact sheet: Giardia infection (giardiasis). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/giardiasis/factsht_giardia.htm. Accessed March 17, 2010.
- Pickering LK. Giardia lamblia (giardiasis). In: Long SS, et al. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingston Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/189644263-3/969360504/1679/269.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06687-0..50268-X_4686. Accessed March 17, 2010.
- Huston CD. Giardia lamblia. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/189644263-3/969360504/1389/793.html#4-u1.0-B1-4160-0245-6..50111-6--cesec14_5019. Accessed March 17, 2010.
- Leder K, et al. Patient information: Giardia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 17, 2010.
- Rohren CH (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. April 1, 2010.
- Munoz FM. Treatment and prevention of giardiasis in children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 17, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on