Environmentally-based diseases

Environmentally-based diseases are communicable or infectious diseases that can be prevented by making changes in a person’s living environment. These diseases can be caused by the spread of bacteria (e.g. whooping cough and tuberculosis), viruses (e.g. COVID-19, influenza and HIV), fungi (e.g. tinea or athlete’s foot), protozoan (microscopic) parasites (e.g. giardia and scabies) and larger parasites (e.g. head lice) [46808]. There are different risk factors for different kinds of infectious diseases, and some can lead to chronic disease [46769]. However, improvements to personal and home hygiene (healthy living practices) and the increased use of vaccines and antibiotics have significantly reduced the prevalence of some infectious diseases in Australia [45520].

Overcrowded housing, a lack of adequate sanitation and home health hardware (functioning toilets and plumbing) [46769] [44607], and soil that is contaminated by untreated sewage can contribute to the risk of infectious disease. It is important to address and improve the environmental health conditions both inside and outside the home to reduce these risks [32345].

Indigenous Environmental Health Practitioners and other health professionals can ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have access to ‘healthy bathrooms’, soap, bed linen and laundry facilities so they can maintain good personal and home hygiene, and combat preventable environmentally-based diseases [45316]. For example, campaigns promoting the washing of hands and faces, and other healthy living practices in remote communities has had a significant impact on reducing the spread of the bacterium chlamydia trachomatis which causes trachoma, and the group A streptococcus bacteria which causes acute rheumatic fever (ARF) that can lead to rheumatic heart disease (RHD) [46304].