unsafe drinking water is one of the leading health challenges in the world today

8/6/2019 Unsafe Drinking Water is One of the Leading Health Challenges in the World Today

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UNSAFE DRINKING WATER IS ONE OF THE LEADING HEALTH

CHALLENGES IN THE WORLD TODAY

Water is an essential part of life. Without it, people and animals

simply cant survive,

According to the United Nations, 1 billion people worldwide lack

access to safe drinking water and 80% of all diseases in

developing countries are transmitted through water.

Throughout much of the world, women and children walk miles to

get water for drinking and household use, the Streams, ponds and

ditches, used as sources for water, are polluted, with this chore


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often done by children who should instead be in school. This lack

of water can lead to poor health, malnutrition, meager incomes

and low agricultural productivity.

Human feces, containing a wide range of bacteria, viruses and

other microorganisms, pollute water sources used for drinking

and washing. As a result, each year more than 900 million cases

of diarrhea are reported, infectious diseases are rampant, and

over 4 million children die.

Microbiologically contaminated water places a tremendous

burden on the lives and the health of the world's poorest people

and causes needless misery and death where the struggle for life

is the hardest. Even within major cities of developing nations,

water from municipal systems is unsafe and needs to be boiled to

prevent illness.

Boiling unsafe water is an effective preventative measure for

those who can afford it; however, boiling consumes scarce natural

resources and contributes to deforestation and air pollution. The

time and energy-consuming task of gathering firewood to boil

water only adds to the already heavy burden of work for countless

women and children in developing countries. And where firewood

cannot be gathered, wood or other fuels must be purchased, with

the cost often consuming up to 25% of a family's income.

SOME WATERBORNE DISEASES:

DYSENTERY

5 million children under the age of 5 die each year from dysentery

caused by contaminated water. Caused primarily by the Shigella


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bacillus, dysentery may be simply defined as diarrhea containing

blood. In addition to bloody diarrhea, the illness often includes

abdominal cramping, fever and rectal pain. Less frequent

complications of infection include sepsis, seizures and renal

failure. Between 5% and 15% of cases are fatal.

SCHISTOSOMIASIS (BILHARZIASIS)

Approximately 600 million people are at risk, 200 million are

infected, 120 million are symptomatic and 20 million have severe

disease worldwide. It is prevalent in 54 countries of Africa, the

Caribbean, the Eastern Mediterranean, South America and Asia.

Schistosomiasis, also known as Bilharziasis, is a parasitic disease

caused by five species of flatworm and leads to chronic ill health

and serious weakness or death. It is second only to malaria

among tropical diseases and is the third most prevalent parasitic

disease in the world. People are infected by contact with infested

water. The disease most commonly results in intestinal

schistosomiasis, which leads to cirrhosis of the liver, and urinary

schistosomiasis, which causes bladder cancer.

Infected victims contaminate their environment through urine

and feces into quiet rivers and lakes. The eggs hatch on contact

with water and release larvae. A tiny larva finds a fresh water

snail host, where it divides itself repeatedly to produce thousands

of new parasites. Parasites are excreted into the water by the

snail. They can penetrate the skin of a mammal within seconds,continuing the biological cycle once they make their way into the

victims blood stream. Within 30 to 45 days, the parasite is

transformed into a long worm, residing in the blood vessels of the

intestine or bladder. Only half of the eggs are excreted in the

feces or urine. The rest are trapped in body tissues, damaging


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other organs. It is the eggs, and not the worm, which cause

damage to the intestines, the bladder and other organs.

Schistosomiasis is a preventable disease, but the number of cases

is continually rising. The provision of safe and adequate water

supplies and sanitation facilities contributes substantially to

reducing its prevalence and severity.

TYPHOID FEVER

An estimated 16 million cases of typhoid fever and 600,000

related deaths occur worldwide, with a concentration in Asia,

Africa and Latin America. In the United States about 400 cases

occur each year, and 70% of these are acquired while traveling

internationally. Typhoid fever is an acute, life-threatening febrile

illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella thphi. You can get

typhoid fever if you eat food or beverages that have been handled

by a person who is a carrier, or if sewage contaminated with the

bacteria gets into the water you use for drinking or washing food.

Therefore, typhoid is more common in areas of the world where

hand washing is less frequent and water is likely to be

contaminated with sewage.

The disease is characterized by fever headache, malaise, anorexia,

enlargement of the spleen, and abnormally slow heartbeat. Many

mild and atypical infections occur. Persons with typhoid fever

carry the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract. In

addition, a small number of persons, called carriers, recover fromtyphoid fever, but continue to carry the bacteria. Both ill persons

and carriers shed S. Typhi in their feces (stool).

CHOLERA


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During 1998, the number of cases worldwide doubled from 1997.

Africa reported 212,000 cases and there were over 57,000 in the

Americas. It is on a steep rise in Asia with large increases in

Afghanistan, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Cholera is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the

intestine with the bacterium vibrio cholerae. About one in 20

infected persons has a severe case characterized by profuse

watery diarrhea, vomiting and leg cramps. Rapid loss of body

fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death

can occur within hours and fatality rates can be very high.

A person may get cholera by drinking water or eating food

contaminated with the cholera bacterium. In an epidemic, the

source of the contamination is usually the feces of an infected

person. The disease can spread rapidly in areas with inadequate

treatment of sewage and drinking water. AFTER A DISASTER,

THIS IS A VERY REAL DANGER, since regular water and food

supplies are often unavailable.

AMEBIASIS

50,000 people die each year out of 50 million cases reported

worldwide. Transmission occurs through ingestion of cysts in

fecally contaminated food or water and person-to-person contact.

It is most common in tropical countries where crowded living

conditions and poor sanitation prevail. Africa, Latin America,

Southeast Asia and India have significant health problemsassociated with this disease.

Typical symptoms are frequent diarrheal, often bloody bowel

movements, abdominal pain, nausea, weight loss, and occasional

fever. Recurrences are common unless the individual is treated.


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Spreading of the ameba into the wall of the colon may cause

colitis or dysentery, and in rare cases it can migrate to the liver,

lungs, brain or other organs.

DRACUNCULIASIS (GUINEA WORM)

The number of people affected from this debilitating disease has

declined dramatically, yet remains over 100,000. It is prevalent in

rural areas of 16 countries in Africa as well as Yemen.

Dracunculiasis is a disabling infection caused by the parasite,

Dracunculus medinensis, commonly known as the guinea worm,

which is the largest of the tissue parasites affecting humans. The

disease is only contracted by drinking water sources

contaminated with the infected hosts of the parasite. Stagnant

sources of drinking water, such as ponds, cisterns, pools in dried-

up riverbeds, temporary hand-dug wells and step wells are the

usual sites where the infection is transmitted.

People become infected when they drink water containing tiny

crustaceans, called copepods or water fleas, that act as

intermediate hosts of the organism and harbor infective larvae.

The parasite migrates through the body. Over the next year,

female worms grow to maturity, reaching a length of 70 cm or

more (2-3 feet). The worms usually emerge from the feet in 90%

of the cases, but can also appear in the upper extremities, the

trunk, buttocks, genitalia, etc.

Symptoms include severe pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and

dizziness. Infected persons remain asymptomatic for

approximately a year after infection when the mature female

worm approaches the skin and forms a painful ulcer. Eventually it

ruptures, exposing the worm. As the worm emerges through the


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skin lesion, the affected person pulls it out slowly and carefully.

This process causes unbearable pain and may last many weeks. If

the worm breaks during extraction, an intense inflammatory

reaction occurs, with pain, swelling and cellulitis. Partial or total

disability can last from several weeks in isolated cases up to, in

most cases, several months. Healing is no guarantee of immunity

against further serious secondary infection.

By: Chiara Marlene

unsafe drinking water is one of the leading health challenges in the world today

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