Fecal–oral route

Main causes of fecal–oral disease transmission include lack of adequate sanitation (leading to open defecation), and poor hygiene practices.

Washing hands properly after changing a baby's diaper or after performing anal hygiene can prevent foodborne illness from spreading.

The common factors in the fecal-oral route can be summarized as five Fs: fingers, flies, fields, fluids, and food.

To make it easier to remember, words starting with the letter "F" are used for each of these pathways, namely fluids, fingers, flies, food, fields, fomites (objects and household surfaces).

[7] The sanitation and hygiene barriers when placed correctly prevent the transmission of an infection through hands, water and food.

The F-diagram can be used to show how proper sanitation (in particular toilets, hygiene, handwashing) can act as an effective barrier to stop transmission of diseases via fecal–oral pathways.

The "F-diagram" ( feces , fingers , flies , fields , fluids , food ), showing pathways of fecal–oral disease transmission. The vertical blue lines show barriers: toilets , safe water , hygiene and handwashing .
Villagers during a community-led total sanitation (CLTS) triggering exercise go to the place where meals are prepared to observe how flies are attracted to human feces and carry diseases by landing on the food (village near Lake Malawi, Malawi)
School children during a CLTS triggering event in West Bengal, India looking at a glass of water and fresh human feces where the flies pass from the water to the feces and back. This demonstrates how pathogens can pollute water.
Modified F-diagram including interventions that can block human exposure to animal feces. [ 7 ]