Waterborne Diseases

Question 1

What are Waterborne Diseases
?

Answer 1

Any illness caused by coming in contact or drinking water contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms.

Caused by:
Bacteria
Viruses
Protozoa
Animal Parasites-parasitic worms called helminths

Question 2

Biggest factor of lack of water sanitation around the world?

Answer 2

• biggest factor: global poverty → underlying issue driving water issues
  
  • woman + children = responsible for handling/getting water

Question 3

Where do Cholera Outbreaks Happen?

Answer 3

-Endemic to India, Bangladesh, regions of S. America, Africa, Australia, and U. S. Gulf coast.
-There have been seven pandemics since 1817
-Six started in the Indian subcontinent
-Last one started in Indonesia and spread to Latin America in the 1990’s with over 6300 deaths

Question 4

Pathogenesis of Cholera

Answer 4

Reservoirs:
-Marine/estuarine water
-Inside shellfish
-(V. cholera also lives in freshwater)

-Infects intestinal epithelial cells
-Cholera toxin results in vomiting, severe diarrhea and dehydration
-Mortality 60% (or higher) if untreated in less than 48 hours after infection

Question 5

Polio

Answer 5

-Acquired by swallowing fecal contaminated water in lakes, pools,etc. (Also spreads by person-to-person contact.)
-Virus multiplies in throat and GI tract
-Paralytic polioviruses reach CNS, multiply, and destroy motor neurons-muscles no longer functional
-Results in acute flaccid paralysis of many body systems, such as respiratory system and limbs
-iron lung

Question 6

Protozoa-Giardia

Answer 6

• water from streams when hiking
• single cell organisms
• digestive issues
• brain eating amoeba → from Neti Pots
• penetrates the skull through the nerves responsible for smell

-Flagellate form in the water
-Cyst under nutrient limiting conditions
-Neti Pots

Question 7

Helminths

Answer 7

-Parasitic worms
-Infective stages are microscopic
ex. Roundworm