The association between domestic animal presence and ownership and household drinking water contamination among peri-urban communities of Kisumu, Kenya

Abstract

IntroductionHousehold drinking water can be contaminated by diarrheagenic enteropathogens at numerous points between the source and actual consumption. Interventions to prevent this contamination have focused on preventing exposure to human waste through interventions to improve drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). In many cases though, the infectious agent may be of zoonotic rather than human origin suggesting that unsafely managed animal waste may contribute to the contamination of household drinking water and the associated diarrheal disease burden.MethodsA cross-sectional household survey of 800 households was conducted across three informal peri-urban neighborhoods of Kisumu, Kenya, collecting stored drinking water samples, administering a household survey including water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure and behaviors, and recording domestic animal presence and ownership. We used multivariate logistic regression to assess the association of traditional WASH factors and domestic animal presence and ownership on microbial contamination of household drinking water.ResultsThe majority of households sampled had fecally contaminated drinking water (67%), defined by the presence of any colony forming units of the fecal indicator bacteria enterococci. After adjustment for potential confounders, including socio-economic status and water and sanitation access, both household animal ownership (aOR 1.31; CI 1.00–1.73, p = 0.05) and the presence of animal waste in the household compound (aOR 1.38; CI 1.01, 1.89, p = 0.04) were found to be significantly associated with household drinking water contamination. None of the conventional WASH variables were found to be significantly associated with household drinking water contamination in the study population.ConclusionsWater, sanitation, and hygiene strategies to reduce diarrheal disease should consider the promotion of safe animal contact alongside more traditional interventions focusing on the management of human waste. Future research on fecal contamination of unsafe household drinking water should utilize host-specific markers to determine whether the source is human or animal to prepare targeted public health messages.

Ruminant Fecal Contamination of Drinking Water Introduced Post-Collection in Rural Kenyan Households

“…Similar results regarding the high prevalence of ruminant contamination has been reported for households in rural and urban/peri-urban informal settlements in Bangladesh [12] and Tanzania [10]. In addition, Barnes et al [59] showed an association between domestic animal presence/ownership and household drinking water contamination. Additional work should be done to assess the prevalence of zoonotic pathogens in waters contaminated by ruminant feces and how the persistence of the ruminant target varies relative to pathogen persistence in different environmental media (e.g., water and soil).…”

“…Handwashing with soap is especially critical in preventing food and water contamination [7] by ruminants [60], can reduce diarrheal disease risk by between 40% and 65% [61,62], and can protect against exposure to enteric zoonoses found in animal waste [63]. Although good hand hygiene is particularly protective at certain critical times [59], self-reported handwashing rates in this study population were only 20% before food preparation, 27% before eating, 20% before feeding children, 42% after cleaning children, and 76% after using the toilet.…”

“…Further work to understand the uses and handling practices of ruminant feces would yield insight to important exposure pathways, where water may just be one of many. This knowledge could inform the expansion of typical WASH interventions [65][66][67] to include safe contact with animals [59] and the safe disposal of animal waste [68,69]. Efforts to reduce exposure to ruminant feces would need to account for the fact that ruminants are also important nutritionally, financially, and culturally [70,71].…”

Knowledge and practices surrounding zoonotic disease among Mongolian herding households

“…Yet, a large portion of the participants in this study reported boiling water prior to use. Unless the water is boiled or treated prior to use each time, stored drinking water can become contaminated at the homesite from domestic animals and vectors, unclean hands and dipping utensils, and the storage container itself (Prüss-Ustün et al 2014;Uddin et al 2014;Ecrumen et al 2017;Barnes et al 2018). Indiscriminate human and animal waste can be a major health hazard in rural Mongolia.…”

Influence of sanitary – domestic conditions in the rural settlements of dnepropetrovsk region on the peasants’ healh

“…Worldwide, children and adults especially in the developing countries are suffering from various water-borne diseases [1,2,3]. Problem of providing drinking water guaranteed quality is widely inspread not only for population of peri-urban communities [4,5,6], but also in many regions of Ukraine, especially in the rural settlements of Dnepropetrovsk region [7,8,9,10]. Therefore, in the aspect of legal innovations in the field of preventive medicine the implementation results of sociological survey to the practice of hygienic researches during analyses of the drinking water quality and sanitary conditions of people life is a vital necessity problem.…”