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Abstract:
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Water plays an important role in the transmission of water-borne diseases such as cholera, dysenteries, typhoid and diarrhoeas. These diseases are the major causes of high morbidity and mortality in developing countries, especially for infants and children under five years. They have many other alternative routes of transmission. The intervention requires a concerted approach which involves other measures such as proper excreta disposal, foodsanitation and health education, in addition to safe water supply. This paper discusses the various aspects of the relationship of water to diseases that are prevalent in tropical climate and the reducing effect that clean and ample supply of water has upon the incidence of these diseases. The focus is on aspects related to hygienic water quality. It also discusses the causes of contamination under the prevailing conditions of water use in villages and small towns of tropical developing countries and the suggested methods for evaluating and prventing the contamination. The paper contains a review of the many bacterial indicators off aecal pollution. An investigation of the use of coliform group of bacteria as indicators of faecal contamination in conditions of tropical climate was also carried out using soil samples obtained from East African countries. The results showed that the indicating abililty of both total and faecal coliforms is hindered by growth of other types of bacteria not related to faecal pollution on the standard culturemedia frequently used for coliform detection. /Kir09 |