Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in stools and wastewater has recently been reported. • A possible faecal-oral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been raised. • Different routes from faeces to the mouth of a susceptible person exist. • Water, surfaces and places with vectors can be transmission routes. • A framework is proposed to help shaping a research agenda.

Discute-se a relação entre saúde e saneamento, situando-a no contexto do processo de desenvolvimento social. É defendida inicialmente a inserção dessa relação no atual enfoque saúde e ambiente, reconhecendo que esta nova área não elimina a pertinência da abordagem saúde-saneamento, na verdade sua precursora. Apresenta-se a conceituação de saneamento e sua atual situação no país, além dos marcos conceituais da relação saúde-saneamento. Indicadores de desenvolvimento dos países, enfatizando os brasileiros, são confrontados com indicadores sanitários, mostrando-se que, para o grau de desenvolvimento econômico e a cobertura por serviços de saneamento no Brasil, melhor desempenho dos indicadores de saúde seria esperado. Avaliam-se as assertivas que podem ser extraídas dos estudos epidemiológicos desenvolvidos na área de saneamento e, por fim, discutem-se as perspectivas que se apresentam no campo da relação saúde-saneamento.

This epidemiological investigation examines the impact of several environmental sanitation conditions and hygiene practices on diarrhea occurrence among children under five years of age living in an urban area. The case-control design was employed; 997 cases and 999 controls were included in the investigation. Cases were defined as children with diarrhea and controls were randomly selected among children under five years of age. After logistic regression adjustment, the following variables were found to be significantly associated with diarrhea: washing and purifying fruit and vegetables; presence of wastewater in the street; refuse storage, collection and disposal; domestic water reservoir conditions; feces disposal from swaddles; presence of vectors in the house and flooding in the lot. The estimates of the relative risks reached values up to 2.87. The present study revealed the feasibility of developing and implementing an adequate model to establish intervention priorities in the field of environmental sanitation. Key-words: Diarrhea. Hygiene practices. Model for priority setting. Urban refuse. Water supply.Resumo Esta investigação epidemiológica estuda o impacto das condições de saneamento ambiental e de práticas higiênicas sobre a ocorrência de diarréia entre crianças menores de 5 anos, residentes em uma área urbana. O delineamento caso-controle foi utilizado; 997 casos e 999 controles foram incluidos na investigação. Casos foram definidos como crianças com diarréia e controles foram selecionados, aleatoriamente, entre crianças com menos de 5 anos. Após ajustamento (regressão logística), as seguintes variáveis foram detectadas como significativamente associadas à diarréia: lavar e higienizar frutas e vegetais; presença de água de esgoto na rua; coleta, armazenagem e disposição do lixo; condições dos reservatórios domésticos de água; disposição das fezes de fraldas, presença de vetores nas casas e inundação do lote da casa. As estimativas pontuais do risco relativo alcançaram valores até 2,87. O presente estudo mostra a factibilidade de desenvolvimento e implementação de modelos adequados para estabelecer prioridades de intervenção no campo do saneamento ambiental. Palavras-chaves: Abastecimento de água. Diarréia. Lixo urbano. Modelo para estabelecer prioridades. Práticas higiênicas.

The crisis in water supply: how different it can look through the lens of the human right to water?A crise no abastecimento de água: como se mostraria diferente se observada através da lente do direito humano à água?La crisis en el suministro de agua: ¿Cómo resultaría diferente si vista a través del lente del derecho humano al agua?

The objective of the present study was to characterize Giardia duodenalis infection among children living in sub-standard settlement areas in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The cross-sectional epidemiological study included 590 children from 1 to 5 years of age. Data were collected from one child per selected family through home interviews with the parent or guardian and parasitological examination of stool samples. Thirty-one putative risk factors concerning family structure, socioeconomic status, and environmental factors were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Prevalence of G. duodenalis infection was 18% (106 children). Four potential risk factors were heavily associated with G. duodenalis infection: number of under-five children in the same household, index child's birth order, existence of a bathroom in the home, and drinking water source.

The Human Rights to Water and Sanitation (HRWS), adopted as UN Resolutions since 2010, contemplates key elements that seek to ensure equal and non-discriminatory access to water and sanitation, including the elimination of gender inequalities. Working in populations with socio-environmental vulnerabilities, this study aims to assess gender division of labor in households of two rural communities in the North and Northeast Brazilian macroregions and identify why greater impacts occur on the lives of women when compared to men, resulting in human rights concerns. A qualitative analysis was carried out through semi-structured interviews and direct observation. The study showed that in the two rural Brazilian communities there is a clear labor division for water and sanitation access from a gender perspective. Men undertake more specialized work, sometimes requiring greater physical effort. As for women, they are assigned functions related to the domestic environment, including activities concerning water and sanitation. When facilities are inadequate, there is a disproportionate impact on women's health and quality of life, showing that the non-compliance with the human rights to water and sanitation often results in more harmful consequences for them.

BackgroundThis article addresses the enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation (HRTWS), in particular access to toilets, in a public school in Bahia, Brazil.MethodsParticipant observation of the school’s routine, focus groups with students in grades 8 and 9 of primary school (13 to 17 years old) and individual, semi-structured, interviews with members of school staff were applied, exploring access to water and sanitation by adolescent girls and boys.ResultsStudents and school staff reported that the amount of toilets was insufficient and that their conditions were often inadequate because they were plugged or dirty. The impact on girls is greater as toilets do not offer a clean and healthy environment for menstrual hygiene management. Several elements of the normative content of the HRTWS, especially accessibility, acceptability, quality, safety and dignity, were largely not fulfilled. The study identified that, to comply with the HRTWS, it is necessary to go beyond infrastructure, as the lack of maintenance; cultural elements and student participation hinder the usage of sanitary facilities. Since schools can be privileged spaces to train critical and reflective citizens and to foster autonomy and emancipation, education oriented by human rights and citizenship is an opportunity for a more equitable society. By increasing access to social, economic and cultural rights in all phases and aspects of life, including when children and adolescents are in a school environment, people are able to enjoy better living conditions and a higher standard of health.ConclusionsThe study raised the importance of considering each community’s sociocultural aspects in analyzing access to sanitary facilities in schools, which are spaces where citizens’ rights should be exercised and fulfilled.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-6469-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cryptosporidium Oocysts and Giardia Cysts: Environmental Circulation and Health RisksOocistos de Cryptosporidium e cistos de Giardia: circulação no ambiente e riscos à saúde humana* ResumoEmbora a presença de protozoários em águas para consumo humano revele-se como um importante problema de Saúde Pública em diversos países, o conhecimento sobre esses riscos, no Brasil, ainda é escasso. Em vista dessa lacuna, apresentamse, neste trabalho, informações que ajudam a compor e explicar a circulação no ambiente e a importância epidemiológica de oocistos de Cryptosporidium e de cistos de Giardia. A metodologia do trabalho incluiu: uma varredura da presença dos (oo)cistos em diferentes mananciais de abastecimento, em amostras de esgotos sanitários, em fezes de animais e humanas; a pesquisa da sua presença em hortaliças; a avaliação da eficiência de instalações de tratamento de água -em escala-piloto e em escala real -na remoção desses microrganismos; e a sua presença em águas de consumo após filtração. Foram identificadas: elevadas concentrações dos protozoários em mananciais abastecedores; a sua presença na água filtrada de estações de tratamento existentes e em efluentes de filtros lentos (ensaios em escala-piloto), em que pese a boa eficiência do processo na remoção; uma elevada densidade nos esgotos sanitários e em fezes de animais contaminados; além de uma considerável prevalência nas fezes de um contingente populacional urbano estudado. O estudo traz evidências do expressivo risco à saúde humana representado pelos protozoários no ambiente e reúne inéditas informações para subsidiar avaliações de riscos à saúde, sobretudo na perspectiva de validação das premissas adotadas pela Portaria N o 518/2004, sobre potabilidade da água.