Skip directly to search Skip directly to A to Z list Skip directly to navigation Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options
CDC Home
Share
Compartir

5 Tips to Help Prevent Infections

Washing handsCommon illnesses, like the flu, can quickly become dangerous for a person with sickle cell disease. The best defense is to take simple steps to help prevent infections.

 

Hand Washing

Washing your hands is one of the best ways to help prevent getting an infection. People with sickle cell disease, their family, and other caretakers should wash their hands with soap and clean water many times each day. If you don’t have soap and water, you can use gel hand cleaners with alcohol in them.

Times to wash your hands:

BEFORE
  • Making food
  • Eating

AFTER

Preventing Infections Tip Sheet


Five Tips to Help Prevent Infection Cover
Download and print this tip sheet »

 

  • Using the bathroom
  • Blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
  • Shaking hands
  • Touching people or things that can carry germs, such as:
    • Diapers or a child who has used the toilet
    • Food that is not cooked (raw meat, raw eggs, or unwashed vegetables)
    • Animals or animal waste
    • Trash
    • A sick person


Food Safety

Bacteria, called salmonella, in some foods can be especially harmful to children with sickle cell disease. How to stay safe when cooking and eating:

  • Wash hands, cutting boards, counters, knives, and other utensils after they touch uncooked foods.
  • Wash vegetables and fruit well before eating them.
  • Cook meat until it’s well done. The juices should run clear and there should be no pink inside.
  • Do not eat raw or undercooked eggs. Raw eggs might be hiding in homemade hollandaise sauce, caesar and other homemade salad dressings, tiramisu, homemade ice cream, homemade mayonnaise, cookie dough, and frostings.
  • Do not eat raw or unpasteurized milk or other dairy products (cheeses). Make sure these foods have a label that says they are “pasteurized.”

 

Reptiles

Turtle Bacteria, called salmonella, that some reptiles have can be especially harmful to children with SCD. Make sure children stay away from turtles, snakes, and lizards.

 

Vaccines

Vaccines are a great way to prevent many serious infections. Children with sickle cell disease should get all the regular childhood vaccines, plus a few extra.

The extra ones are:

  • Flu vaccine every year after 6 months of age.
  • A pneumococcal vaccine (called 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine) at 2 and 5 years of age.
  • Meningococcal vaccine (for some children).


Click here for the regular childhood vaccination schedule. Don’t forget to add the extra vaccines listed previously for children with sickle cell disease.

Click here to find information for parents about vaccinations.


Adults should have the flu vaccine every year, as well as the pneumococcal vaccine and any others recommended by a doctor.

 

Penicillin

Take penicillin (or other antibiotic prescribed by a doctor) every day until at least 5 years of age.

 

 

 

 

 

CDC 24/7 – Saving Lives. Protecting People. Saving Money Through Prevention. Learn More About How CDC Works For You…

 

Contact Us:
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

    National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities

    Division of Blood Disorders

    1600 Clifton Road
    MS E-87
    Atlanta, GA 30333
  • 800-CDC-INFO
    (800-232-4636)
    TTY: (888) 232-6348
    New Hours of Operation
    8am-8pm ET/Monday-Friday
    Closed Holidays
  • cdcinfo@cdc.gov
USA.gov: The U.S. Government's Official Web PortalDepartment of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   1600 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30333, USA
800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) TTY: (888) 232-6348 - cdcinfo@cdc.gov
A-Z Index
  1. A
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
  5. E
  6. F
  7. G
  8. H
  9. I
  10. J
  11. K
  12. L
  13. M
  14. N
  15. O
  16. P
  17. Q
  18. R
  19. S
  20. T
  21. U
  22. V
  23. W
  24. X
  25. Y
  26. Z
  27. #