Al-Mustafa Welfare Trust® - Water Borne Diseases

Water borne diseases

Diarrhoeal diseases

Diseases that cause diarrhoea are the most deadly, killing over two million people every year - mostly children under the age of five. Children in low income settings are particularly vulnerable to diarrhoeal diseases, worm infection, skin diseases, trachoma, typhoid, and Hepatitis A. It is estimated that as a result of diarrhoeal diseases, 400 million schooldays are missed every year worldwide.

The three most deadly diarrhoeal diseases are cholera, bacillary dysentery and typhoid. Others include amoebic dysentery, giardiadis, salmonella, camplyobacteriosis and cryptosporidiosis.

All of these diseases can be stopped by the same preventative methods, especially providing the clean water to the masses:

Cholera is a disease that can cause large epidemics killing the young, the weak and the old. It is known and feared throughout the developing world. The bacteria, which can last for up to three weeks in soil, is spread by contaminated water, food and occasionally by person to person contact.

The use of water in hygiene is an important preventive measure but contaminated water is also an important cause of diarrhoea. Cholera and dysentery cause severe, sometimes life threatening forms of diarrhoea. (WHO 2000, Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment, World Health Organization, Geneva).

Bacillary dysentery is more severe than amoebic dysentery. It is estimated that 140 million people are infected each year resulting in around 300,000 deaths annually, mostly among children under the age of five.It is caused by Shigella bacteria which enter the body through contaminated drinking water, food or flies which then infect the large intestine. It can be spread between people - especially young children.

Typhoid fever affects 17 million people worldwide every year, with approximately 600,000 deaths. It is contracted when people drink water or eat food infected with a bacterium called Salmonella Typhi found in human waste.

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Water & Sanitation - Water borne diseases

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