Emerging Waterborne Infections: Contributing Factors, Agents, and Detection Tools

Abstract

Because microorganisms are easily dispersed, display physiological diversity, and tolerate extreme conditions, they are ubiquitous and may contaminate and grow in water. The presence of waterborne enteric pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and protozoa) in domestic water supplies represents a potentially significant human health risk. Even though major outbreaks of waterborne disease are comparatively rare, there is substantial evidence that human enteric pathogens that are frequently present in domestic water supplies are responsible for low-level incidence of waterborne microbial disease. Although these diseases are rarely debilitating to healthy adults for more than a few hours to a few days, enteric pathogens can cause severe illness, even death, for young children, the elderly, or those with compromised immune systems. As the epidemiology of waterborne diseases is changing, there is a growing global public health concern about new and reemerging infectious diseases that are occurring through a complex interaction of social, economic, evolutionary, and ecological factors. New microbial pathogens have emerged, and some have spread worldwide. Alternative testing strategies for waterborne diseases should significantly improve the ability to detect and control the causative pathogenic agents. In this article, we provide an overview of the current state of knowledge of waterborne microbial pathogens, their detection, and the future of new methods in controlling these infectious agents.

Water quality evaluation of Himalayan Rivers of Kumaun region, Uttarakhand, India

“…Human waste contamination in water causes waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid and hepatitis (Theron and Cloete 2002;Elko et al 2003;Sood et al 2008). According to BIS, the coliform count should be\10 colonies/100 ml and absence of faecal coliform in water samples.…”

Polioviruses and other Enteroviruses

“…Removal of virus from wastewater is often incomplete resulting in viral pollution of the environment at levels that are still sufficient for viral transmission (Okoh et al, 2010;Rodriguez-Diaz et al, 2009;Theron and Cloete, 2002). In fact, wastewater effluents are often the major source of enteric virus contamination of the environments .…”

“…Chlorine, chlorine compounds and UV may be less effective against enteric viruses than against bacteria used as indicator organisms (Blatchley et al, 2007;Theron and Cloete, 2002). Inactivation or disinfection refers to the rendering the pathogen nonviable while removal refers to the physical separation or exclusion of the pathogen (see discussion on membranes and ultrafiltration in Sections 1.4.2, 3.1.7 and 3.2.4).…”

“…Excessive use of chlorine is now avoided to reduce the risk for formation of DBPs (Verma et al, 2014). Chlorine and chlorine compounds are less effective against enteric viruses than against bacteria (Rose et al, 2004;Theron and Cloete, 2002) (see discussion of appropriate indicator organisms ). However amounts of chlorine must be used that are sufficient for disinfection of enteric viruses despite DBP formation, since the risk of illness and death from pathogens outweighs the risk from exposure to DBPs (WHO, 2011).…”

One-Year Surveillance of the Chemical and Microbial Quality of Drinking Water Shuttled to the Eolian Islands

“…Therefore, in these cases, the preferred system is to shuttle drinking water by tankers. It is worth noting that in this case, drinking water that is not properly treated or disinfected or that travels through an improperly maintained distribution system may pose some health risks [1][2][3][4]. In order to avoid contamination, tankships need to be properly designed for the water trade.…”