Hygiene is a term that refers to cleanliness and grooming. In the case of environmental hygiene, the concept is linked to maintain sanitary conditions of the environment to prevent it affects the health of people.
More exactly we can say that environmental hygiene is the science that is dedicated to both prevention and control and the improvement of the environmental conditions that surround us and that they are basic and necessary to maintain perfect public health. That is why it is dedicated to taking special care of the air, water, natural resources, soil, flora and fauna, among other elements.
And it is that the aforementioned hygiene depends to a great extent that human beings have a good quality of life. Hence, within its field of action they are from pest controls in homes or buildings through the development of actions in matters of school or sanitary hygiene, among others.
Environmental hygiene, therefore, implies taking care of chemical, physical and biological factors external to the person. These are factors that could affect health: therefore, the objective of environmental hygiene is to prevent diseases by creating healthy environments.
Environmental medicine is known as the discipline that pursues disease-producing agents that were introduced into the environment by human action. Environmental hygiene must take care of the health of both current and future generations.
In this sense, we can highlight that in recent years there has been an important work on environmental hygiene to try to end the so-called sporadic legionellosis, an infectious disease that appeared in the 1970s. The origin is unknown of said pathology, although it is known to be caused by the aerobic Gram negative bacteria. It is established that it is fundamentally born in what are the air conditioners, the cooling towers and even the stagnation of water.
Hence, every year, especially in the summer season, the relevant authorities maintain a much more exhaustive control of the aforementioned elements to prevent citizens from being infected with it.
Environmental hygiene generally includes disinfection (to control bacteria and organisms that are harmful to health), fumigation, disinsection, and deratization.
For example: if someone dumps toxic waste in a square, the State must take care of the corresponding cleaning through the offices linked to environmental hygiene. In this way, children and subjects passing through the plaza will be prevented from getting sick when in contact with said waste.
Removing rats from a public office is another example of how environmental hygiene is protected. These animals can cause various diseases in humans. The most usual thing, if rats are found, is to evacuate the site in question and let the specialists act.