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By Nora O. Gamolo, Senior Desk Editor
Waterborne and water-related diseases are those
caused by protozoa, viruses, bacteria, and intestinal parasites, all
pathogenic or disease-causing microorganisms directly transmitted
when contaminated drinking water is consumed.
Some 88 percent of diseases worldwide is
attributed to unsafe water supply, bad sanitation and unhygienic
practices that mostly hit the poor, weak and sick, especially
children, in developing countries—including the Philippines.
These diseases are due to massive pollution of
water resources. According to the Water Environment Partnership in
Asia, nearly 2.2 million metric tons of organic pollution are
produced annually by domestic (48 percent), agricultural (37
percent), and industrial (15 percent) sectors.
In the Philippines’ four water-critical
regions—the National Capital Region or Metro Manila, Central
Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Central Visayas—water pollution is
caused mainly by household (or domestic) and industrial wastes.
Untreated wastewater damages human and animal
health by spreading disease-causing bacteria and viruses, making
water unfit for drinking and for recreational use. Both untreated
water with household and industrial wastes also threatens
biodiversity and the overall quality of life in the community.
Known diseases caused by polluted and infected
water include gastro-enteritis, diarrhea, typhoid, cholera,
dysentery, hepatitis, and more recently, severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS).
Each year, around 6,000 Filipinos die
prematurely from waterborne, or water-related diseases such as
diarrhea, which is the second leading cause of morbidity in the
Philippines. Ironically, the Philippines is supposed to have a
relatively mild water problem compared to other countries such as
some in Africa.
The number of water-related health outbreaks
including deaths reported in Philippine newspapers is going up.
However, awareness here of the need for improved sanitation and
water pollution control, reflected by the willingness to pay for
being connected to a sewerage system where they are available is
very low.
According to the World Health Organization, in
2004, some 85 percent of Filipinos had sustainable access to an
improved water source, while 72 percent had access to improved
sanitation. As of 2006, the target for reduction in diarrhea
incidence had already been reached at 708 per 100,000. This decline
was largely due to the increase in access to safe water and
sanitation services and hand washing.
That was big improvement over 2000, when the
incidence of diarrhea was a record high of 1,135 per 100,000
population and diarrhea deaths were 5.3 per 100,000. The Department
of Health exceeded its aims to reduce diarrhea incidence to 750
cases per 100,000 population, and the death rate to less than one
per 100,000 population by 2010.
However, despite significant improvements in
good-water and sanitation coverage, water and sanitation-related
diseases remain major health problems. High diarrhea prevalence
continues to persist in underserved areas like the Cordillera
Administrative Region, Western Visayas (Region 7), and Mimaropa
(Region 4B).
Diarrhea is most commonly caused by “Virus
(biology)” viral infections, “Parasites” parasites or
“Bacterium” bacterial toxins. Where living conditions are
sanitary, and with ample good food and good potable water
guaranteed, a person sick with diarrhea usually recovers from in a
few days. However, for malnourished individuals diarrhea can lead to
severe “Dehydration” dehydration and death without treatment and
rich dietary reinforcement.
In 2006, the Philippines suffered several
outbreaks of diarrhea spread in many parts of the country. In
northern Luzon, several municipalities in Ifugao province were hit,
and the causative organisms isolated were identified to be cholera
and amoeba.
In a distant town in Palawan, indigenous people
had diarrhea as symptoms of deadly cholera. Some municipalities in
Catanduanes had mixed causes of diarrhea, including the bacteria
Salmonella, E. coli, Vibrios and Aeromonas all delivered to
households from a contaminated water source.
In the Visayas, a town in Bohol province had a
diarrhea epidemic caused by Shigella, and it was later noted that
the water source was contaminated. In all the diarrhea-affected
areas, deaths were reported.
While considered the usual culprit, diarrhea is
not only the water-borne disease that can erupt. An outbreak of
Hepatitis A in Surigao del Sur in Mindanao once occurred among
students of a state college, with contaminated food sold outside the
school traced as the infection source. The food sold to the students
were prepared with contaminated water.
Hepatitis A or infectious hepatitis is an
“Acute (medical)” acute “Infectious disease” liver disease
caused by a virus commonly transmitted by the “Fecal-oral route”
fecal-oral route via contaminated food or drinking water. In
“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_country” developing
countries, and in regions with poor hygienic standards, the
“Incidence (epidemiology)” incidence of infection with this
virus approaches 100 percent, and the illness is usually contracted
in early childhood.
Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are
acute diseases found in the tropics, caused by viruses that spread
like malaria. Unlike malaria, dengue is often found in urban areas.
Dengue is normally transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti
mosquito that feeds during the day.
In areas with many bodies of stagnant water,
such as in Metro Manila, dengue continues to be a major water-borne
disease. It happened in the early part of this year in Laguna.
In 2006, dengue hit several cities of Luzon and
over 28,000 cases were recorded in sentinel hospitals. But it was
estimated that there were really more than 100,000 cases.
Metro Manila and the Cordillera Autonomous
Region recorded a 30 percent increase in dengue cases, although
mortality was reduced to 0.75 percent. Dengue is now spreading to
semi-urban pockets of Mindanao.
All these disease outbreaks point to poor
environmental sanitation, contaminated water and food as the most
likely causes. Rural areas are the most affected because of water
systems like traditional wells and polluted rivers streams.
The reduction of the burden of water-borne
diseases requires citizens’ access to safe water and sanitation
services.
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