One of the best way to prevent the spread of E. coli to other people is to maintain proper hygiene. Always wash and scrub your hands carefully with soap and water after you:
- Use the bathroom
- Change a diaper
- Come into direct contact with an animal or its environment, such as the enclosure of a petting zoo or a stable
- Before touching someone’s mouth or any object that will go into someone’s mouth, including food and a pacifier (2)
To actually kill E. coli, wash hands vigorously for a minimum of 20 seconds, the equivalent of singing “Happy Birthday” twice. Contrary to popular belief, warm water is not a must when it comes to killing bacteria and germs; any temperature will do. But don’t forget to always wash the backs of hands, wrists, between the fingers, and under fingernails as well. After hands are dry, use a clean towel to turn off the faucet. (4)
Note that using hand sanitizer does not yield the same protective results as washing hands with warm, soapy water. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the use of any hand sanitizer products for preventing an infection fromE. coli, though a study shows sanitizer does kill some (but not necessarily all) MRSA germs.
If you’re at a restaurant, there isn’t much you can do to prevent food poisoning from E. coli, aside from sending back any meat that looks like it wasn’t cooked completely, such as pink hamburger meat. But there are a number of steps you can take at home to reduce your risk of getting an E. coli intestinal infection:
- Cook beef thoroughly.To kill E. coli, steaks and roasts need to be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees F; ground beef requires a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
- Rinse all fruits and vegetables. These should be rinsed until no visible grime or dirt is left on the produce. Be sure to also wash fruit like melons. When you cut into, say, a cantaloupe, you can drag surface E. coli through the fruit, contaminating the inside.
- Avoid cross-contamination. Separate raw meats from produce, using different cutting boards and knives when preparing them. Always wash hands, utensils, counters, serving trays, and cutting boards after they’ve been in contact with raw meat. And don’t put cooked meat back on the same plate it was on before it was cooked. (2)
