Abstractobjective This study was conducted to measure the impact of a hygiene intervention on the contamination of weaning food in Bangladesh.methods Sixty households were selected: 30 study and 30 control households. Samples of weaning food were collected from all the 60 households at baseline and examined for faecal coliforms (FC), faecal streptococci (FS) and Clostridium perfringens (CP) following standard procedures. After cooking, food samples were collected on three occasions before feeding. Following Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) procedures, critical control points were determined. The mothers in the 30 study households were then trained for 4 weeks in how to attain the control point conditions. Then, again the food samples were collected and analysed.results At baseline, weaning foods from study and control households were heavily contaminated with FC and FS. The FC and FS counts were 1.84 log 10 and 1.92 log 10 colony-forming unit (cfu)/g, respectively, in the study households, and 0.86 log 10 and 1.33 log 10 cfu/g, respectively, in the control households in the first feeding. After the intervention, the FC and FS counts in study households had dropped to 0.10 log 10 and 0.09 log 10 cfu/g, respectively, a statistically significant reduction (P < 0.001). Monitoring the sustainability of the behaviour change after 3 months showed that the mothers were maintaining food hygiene.conclusions A hygiene intervention following the HACCP approach reduced the weaning food contamination significantly. Awareness building among mothers about weaning food hygiene could be an important intervention for preventing weaning food-related diarrhoea in Bangladesh.keywords weaning food, hazard analysis critical control point, hygiene intervention, diarrhoea, Bangladesh

Point-of-use water treatment with chlorine is underutilized in low-income households. The Zimba, an automated batch chlorinator, requires no electricity or moving parts, and can be installed at shared water points with intermittent flow. We conducted a small-scale trial to assess the acceptability and quality of Zimba-treated municipal water. Fieldworkers collected stored drinking water over a 10-week period from control (n = 24 households) and treatment (n = 30 households) compounds to assess levels of free chlorine and E. coli contamination. Overall, 80% of stored drinking water samples had a safe chlorine residual among treatment households, compared to 29% among control households (P &lt; 0.001). Concentrations of E. coli were lower (mean difference = 0.4 log colony-forming units/100 mL, P = 0.004) in treatment compared to control households. Fifty-three percent of mothers (n = 17), thought the Zimba was easy to use and 76% were satisfied with the taste. The majority of mothers mentioned that collecting water from the Zimba took more time and created a long queue at the handpump. The Zimba successfully chlorinated household stored drinking water; however, further technology development is required to address user preferences. The Zimba may be a good option for point-of-collection water treatment in areas where queuing for water is uncommon.

Abstractobjective To evaluate household faecal contamination using children's toys among 100 rural Bangladeshi households categorised as 'cleaner' (toilet that reliably separates faeces from the environment and no human faeces in/around living space) or 'less clean' (no toilet or toilet that does not reliably separate faeces from the environment and human faeces in/around living space).methods We distributed toy balls to each household and rinsed each study toy and a toy already owned by the household in 200 ml of Ringer's solution. We enumerated faecal coliforms and faecal streptococci from each rinse using membrane filtration methods.results Study toys from 39 cleaner households had lower mean faecal coliform contamination than toys from 61 less clean households (2.4 log 10 colony-forming units (CFU)/200 ml vs. 3.2 log 10 CFU/ 200 ml, P = 0.03). However, wealth measures explained a portion of this relationship. Repeat measures were moderately variable [coefficient of variation (CV) = 6.5 between two toys in the household at the same time, CV = 37.6 between toys in the household at two different times 3-4 days apart]. Too few households owned a non-porous toy to compare groups without risk of bias.conclusion In rural Bangladesh, improved sanitation facilities and practices were associated with less environmental contamination. Whether this association is independent of household wealth and whether the difference in contamination improves child health merit further study. The variation found was typical for measures of environmental contamination, and requires large sample sizes to ascertain differences between groups with statistical significance.

BackgroundIn 2010, an acute illness outbreak was reported in school students eating high-energy biscuits supplied by the school feeding programme in northwest Bangladesh. We investigated this outbreak to describe the illness in terms of person, place and time, develop the timeline of events, and determine the cause and community perceptions regarding the outbreak.MethodsWe defined case-patients as students from affected schools reporting any two symptoms including abdominal pain, heartburn, bitter taste, and headache after eating biscuits on the day of illness. We conducted in-depth interviews and group discussions with students, teachers, parents and community members to explore symptoms, exposures, and community perceptions. We conducted a questionnaire survey among case-patients to determine the symptoms and ascertain food items eaten 12 hours before illness onset, and microbiological and environmental investigations.Results Among 142 students seeking hospital care, 44 students from four schools qualified as case-patients. Of these, we surveyed 30 who had a mean age of 9 years; 70% (21/30) were females. Predominant symptoms included abdominal pain (93%), heartburn (90%), and bitter taste (57%). All students recovered within a few hours. No pathogenic Vibrio cholerae, Shigella or Salmonella spp. were isolated from collected stool samples. We found no rancid biscuits in schools and storage sites. The female index case perceived the unusually darker packet label as a “devil’s deed” that made the biscuits poisonous. Many students, parents and community members reported concerns about rumors of students dying from biscuit poisoning.ConclusionsRapid onset, followed by rapid recovery of symptoms; female preponderance; inconsistent physical, microbiological and environmental findings suggested mass sociogenic illness rather than a foodborne or toxic cause. Rumours of student deaths heightening community anxiety apparently propagated this outbreak. Sharing investigation results and reassuring students and parents through health communication campaigns could limit similar future outbreaks and help retain beneficiaries’ trust on nutrition supplementation initiatives.

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This evidence based study may be used to provide interventions to reduce the contamination of commuters' hands through washing with detergent and, thus, help to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

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Esterase isozyme of different tissues of Puntius sophore was analyzed using 7.5 % polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Fish specimens were collected from local market. The tissues used were taken from different muscles, stomach, fore-, mid- and hind-gut, liver, eyes, gill, heart, kidney, fore-, mid- and hind- brain, eggs and ovary. Six different esterase bands were detected, named Est-1, Est-2, Est-3, Est-4, Est-5 and Est-6 and their relative mobility were 1.0, 0.84, 0.62, 0.33, 0.26 and 0.13 respectively, each of them representing a single allele. The highest esterase activity was found in liver, followed by gill, kidney, heart, brain, intestine, stomach, eye, reproductive organ and skeletal muscles as detected in the staining intensity. Staining intensity of Est-4 and Est-5 was higher and Est-6 was the least stained in all the tissues. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 42(2): 201-208, December 2016