Waterborne+Diseases

News __** · The Indian Ocean tsunami that hit the Somali coast ten days ago destroyed water sources and sanitation facilities on the Hafun peninsula, putting approximately one thousand households at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.
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·  On July 1 UNICEF warned that waterborne diseases were still a major threat to the people affected by Cyclone Ajla. **__ Areas affected __** · Waterborne diseases are a major threat to the health of people in areas of war and areas affected by natural disasters such as tsunamis, floods and cyclones.

· In Bangladesh alone nearly 35 million people are exposed, on a daily basis, to elevated levels of arsenic in their drinking water, which could cause waterborne diseases.

**__ Statistics __** ·  Diarrhoea is a major influence worldwide and causes 4% of all deaths. · From 1991 to 2000, there were 155 outbreaks and 431,846 cases of illness in public and individual U.S. water systems.  · Since the beginning of an epidemic in January 1991, the total number of reported cases of illness is 746,968 with 6,448 deaths.  ·  Currently, around 20% of the world’s population does not have access to safe drinking water, and more than 5 million people die annually from illnesses caused by unsafe drinking water. If everyone had safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services, there would be 200 million fewer cases of diarrhea and 2.1 million fewer deaths caused by diarrheal illness each year.  **__ How infection occurs __** Water borne diseases are spread by contamination of drinking water systems with urine and faeces of infected animal or people. This is likely to occur where drinking water systems get there water from surface water such as creeks, rivers, and lakes. This water can get infected by runoffs from landfills, septic fields, sewer pipes, or industrial developments. However, other ways infected material can reach the mouth such as on hands or contaminated food.

**__ Progress __** Early in the 19th century, the main waterborne diseases in the U.S. were typhoid fever and amebiasis. Of the 1,087 deaths associated with waterborne outbreaks between 1920 and 1991, 943 were attributed to typhoid fever while 102 were caused by amebiasis. Eighty three percent of the deaths occurred before 1936 and less than 1% occurred after 1970. Also, the number of outbreaks in community water systems since 1945 is about half as great as the number documented during the first half of this century.

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