Fecal Contamination of Drinking Water Supplies in and around Chandigarh and Correlation with Acute Gastroenteritis.
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Date
2011-09
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Abstract
The study evaluated drinking water from localities in and around
Chandigarh for fecal coliforms, V.cholerae and Enterotoxigenic E.coli
and correlate with occurrence of acute gastroenteritis occurring from the
same region.
Drinking water sample were collected from various sources from the
defined area. Samples were tested for fecal coliforms and E.coli count by
multiple tube method and pathogens by membrane filtration technique.
E. coli were screened for heat labile toxin (LT) by the reverse passive
agglutination method and heat stable toxin (ST) by ELISA. Stool samples
from cases of acute gastroenteritis from the same region and time were
collected and processed for V. cholerae, Enterotoxigenic E coli (ETEC)
and others like Salmonella, Shigella and Aeromonas spp.
Of 364 water samples examined, 116 (31.8%) samples were
contaminated with fecal coliforms (58.5% rural, 33.4% semi-urban and
11.1% from urban areas). E. coli were grown from 58 samples. Ninety-two
isolates of E. coli were tested for enterotoxins of which 8 and 24 were
positive for LT and ST respectively. V. cholerae were isolated from
2 samples during the outbreak investigation. Stored water samples
showed a significantly higher level of contamination and most of
Enterotoxigenic E. coli were isolated from stored water samples.
A total of 780 acute gastroenteritis cases occurred; 445 from semiurban,
265 rural and 70 from urban areas. Out of 189 stool samples
submitted, ETEC were the commonest (30%) followed by V. cholerae (19%), Shigellae (8.4%), Salmonellae (2.1%) and Aeromonas (2.6%).
ST-ETEC (40/57) were commoner than LT- ETEC(17/57).
In the present study, high levels of contamination of drinking water
supplies (32.1%) correlated well with cases of acute gastroenteritis.
Majority of cases of acute gastroenteritis occurred in the semi-urban area
corresponding with high level of contamination (33.4%). The highest
level of water contamination was seen in rural areas (58.5%) but the
number of acute gastroenteritis cases were lesser (33.9%) as ponds were
infrequently used for drinking purpose. Safer household water storage
and treatment is recommended to prevent acute gastroenteritis, together
with point-of-use water quality monitoring.
Description
Keywords
acute gastroenteritis, drinking water contamination, Enterotoxigenic E .coli
Citation
Taneja Neelam, Singh Malkit, Rao Pooja, Biswal Manisha, Priya Shiva, Chander Ram, Sharma Meera. Fecal Contamination of Drinking Water Supplies in and around Chandigarh and Correlation with Acute Gastroenteritis. Journal of Communicable Diseases. 2011 Sept; 43(3): 193-199.