Monday, April 12, 2010

Deseases relate to water

Diarrhoea, may occur due to contaminated water supply and is often reported after flood disaster and in the refuge area. One example is when flood disaster occurred in Bangladesh in 2004. Diarrhoea epidemic was found for more than 17,000 cases at that time. Same thing also happened in West Bengal in 1998 where cholera epidemic caused more than 16,000 cases. The risk of diarrhoea epidemic on post-disaster is higher in developing countries than in developed ones. In Aceh province, Indonesia, rapid health assessment was conducted for inhabitants in the city. 85% of inhabitants who drunk water from unprotected wells suffered diarrhoea in the last two weeks.

Hepatitis A and E, can spread through faecaloral spreading, and relate to poor access to safe water supply and sanitation. Hepatitis A is generally endemic in developing countries. Children are often contaminated yet they may from their immune at young age. So, in area like this, the risk becomes lower. In endemic area, hepatitis E epidemic often occurs after heavy rain or flood. This desease is not generally serious and may heal itself, but for pregnant women the mortality level can increase to 15%. After the tsunami in December 2004 in Aceh, hepatitis A and E cases were found, but fortunately the epidemic did not occur.

Leptospirosis, is a zoonosis desease that can spread through skin contact and mucous membrane with water, humid area or mud that had been contaminated by rat's urine. Flood can help the spreading of this organism and cause epidemic like in Taiwan in 2001.

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