Field Skills 2: Field Hygiene Flashcards
Why is field hygiene important?
-Improper hygiene may lead to injury and illness and render a combat outfit ineffective by being unhealthy enough to accomplish the mission.
What are some common injuries and illnesses related to improper hygiene?
- Blister
- Frost Bite
- Immersion Foot
- Cellulitis
- Fungi
What are some methods to prevent infection?
Avoiding:
- Picking your nose
- Scratching your body
- Biting your finger nails
Describe immersion foot?
- Numbness
- Erythrosis (turning red)
- Cyanosis (turning blue)
- Decaying odor.
- As condition worsen, feet may also begin to swell.
- Advanced trench foot often involves blisters and open sores, which leads to fungal infection.
How does immersion foot occur?
-It can occurs at temps of 60deg (F) if the feet are constantly wet.
What is frost bite?
It is an injury of the tissue caused from exposure to the cold, usually below 32F depending on wind-chill factor, duration of exposure, and adequacy of protection.
Describe frost bite?
- Loss of sensation (numb feeling) in any part of the body.
- Sudden blanching (whitening) of the skin of the affected part, followed by a momentary tingling sensation.
- Redness of skin in light-skin, grayish coloring in dark-skin
- Blisters
- Swelling or tender areas.
- Loss of previous sensation of pain in affected area.
- Pale, yellowish, waxy-looking skin
- Frozen tissue that feel solid to the touch
What is cellulitis?
Bacterial skin infection
How does cellulitis occur?
Crack or break in skin allows bacteria to enter.
Describe cellulitis?
- Redness
- Red Streaking
- Swelling
- Warmth
- Pain or tenderness
- Leaking of yellow, clear fluid or pus
Describe Fungi?
- Scaly red rash that typically begins between the toes.
- Itching, often the worst right after you take off your shoes and socks
- Infection can spread spread to both feet and hand if you scratch and pick at the infected area.
What are some methods for cleaning individual gear?
- Frequency - Clothing and sleeping gear should be washed once a week, minimum.
- Smell check, smell if there is odor from smelly places
- Cleaning - use potable water, laundry detergent (w/o optical brightness and do not use bleach), dunk gear into a bucket w/ detergent and scrub, especially areas that accumulate sweat and body odor. Rise out w/ fresh water to remove detergent from clothing.
- If water and detergent are unavailable, shake gear out and air dry.
How should disposal of human waste be conducted in order to prevent disease and illness?
- Designate a hygiene pit
- Hygiene pit should be as far as possible from the food and natural water source (100 meters of more is best)
- Hygiene pits should be at least 50 ft from sleeping area.
- Hygiene pits should be located level ground, and never uphill from the bivouac site or water supply.
How should cleaning the body be done in order to prevent infection and/or illness?
- Clean your body daily w/ soap and water daily to ward off illness and infection in the field; if showers or baths are not available use washcloth or baby wipes. (use once baby wipe for one part of the body.)
- Armpits: Apply deodorant after water arm pits
- Wash genital area daily.
-Feet: Rise and wash between your toes. Change sock daily to reduce the chance of fungal disease. Keep toe nails trimmed. Apply foot powder to prevent infection after washing.
Hands- Fingernails need to be trimmed. Bacteria can cause infection and untrimmed nails retain that bacteria if they are not kept neatly trimmed.
