Microbial contamination of drinking water and disease outcomes in developing regions

By Nicholas Ashbolt. Toxicology, 2004

1,045 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Drinking water is a major source of microbial pathogens in developing regions, although poor sanitation and food sources are integral to enteric pathogen exposure. Gastrointestinal disease outcomes are also more severe, due to under-nutrition and lack of intervention strategies in these regions. Poor water quality, sanitation and hygiene account for some 1.7 million deaths a year world-wide (3.1% of all deaths and 3.7% of all DALY’s), mainly through infectious diarrhoea. Nine out of 10 such deaths are in children and virtually all of the deaths are in developing countries. Major enteric pathogens in these children include: rotavirus, Campylobacter jejuni, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Shigella spp. and Vibrio cholerae O1, and possibly enteropathogenic E. coli, Aeromonas spp. V. cholerae O139, enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium difficile and Cryptosporidium parvum. All except the latter are easily control by chlorination of water, but recontamination of treated water is a huge problem. Emerging environmental pathogens, such as Helicobacter pylori and Burkholderia pseudomallei, may well be of significance in some regions. In adults, much less is understood of various sequellae such as myocarditis, diabetes, reactive arthritis and cancers some months–years after initial infections. So in addition to the traditional pathogens (helminths, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia hepatitis A and E) various enteroviruses, C. jejuni and H. pylori are emerging issues in adults.

Subfields: Endocrinology, Infectious Diseases, Nutrition and Dietetics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0a626fcee165acfa5f7fa35c95ec6c9deef2abaa

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Endocrinology

1. Benjamin M. Bolker
2. Umair Manzoor
3. B. Wehrli
4. A. A. Alazba

In Infectious Diseases

1. A. Kilpatrick
2. Matthew Fisher
3. C. K. R. Willis
4. Umair Manzoor
5. A. A. Alazba

In Nutrition and Dietetics

1. Umair Manzoor
2. A. A. Alazba

Citations in the corpus

• Global Water Pollution and Human Health (2010, background): “The main acute disease risk associated with drinking water in developing and transition countries is due to well-known viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, which spread via the fecaloral route (158).”
• Nanotechnology and Water Treatment: Applications and Emerging Opportunities (2008, background): “…et al. 2007; Montgomery and Elimelech 2007), the health and welfare of people, especially of vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and poor, are closely connected to the availability of adequate, safe and affordable water supplies (Theron and Cloete 2002; Ashbolt 2004; Eshelby 2007).”
• A Review of Removal of Pollutants from Water/Wastewater Using Different Types of Nanomaterials (2014, background): “Every day, about 5,000–6,000 children die due to the water-related problem of diarrhea [8, 9].”
• Context‐dependent conservation responses to emerging wildlife diseases (2015, methodology): “Funding was provided by the US National Science Foundation (grants EF-0914866, DGE-0741448, DEB-1115069, DEB-1336290) and the National Institutes of Health (grant 1R010AI090159). n References Ashbolt NJ. 2004.”
• Cellphone based Portable Bacteria Pre-Concentrating microfluidic Sensor and Impedance Sensing System (2013, background): “coli) and Salmonella bacteria have been known to have caused serious food and water contamination issues which can severely threaten civilians’ health conditions [5] .”