Describe water borne diseases with control measures.
Water-Borne Diseases
Ranging from diarrhoea to meningitis, water-borne diseases affect the human body in numerous ways and can leave the individual with a life-threatening illness. Here are some of the effects of water-borne diseases and their fatalities on the individual’s life.
Typhoid
Typhoid fever caused due to food washed with contaminated water and can turn out to be life-threatening for the person suffering from it. Some of its symptoms include prolonged headache, high fever, loss of appetite, nausea, constipation, joint pain and in most cases diarrhoea. This fever is caused by Salmonella Typhi virus found in contaminated water and once this virus enters your bloodstream, it tends to multiply quickly leading to high fever. In its severest form, typhoid fever may leave the person with rashes that appear like tiny red dots near the abdomen region. These red dots are also called rose spots.
Cholera
This disease is usually caused by an infection in your intestine. So how does a person get affected with cholera? Well, this water-borne disease is caused due to ice made from contaminated water, street sold food, uncooked seafood etc. If a person consumes contaminated food or water, the bacteria will release toxins in your intestine that will result in diarrhoea. In its severest form, cholera may lead to dehydration, watery diarrhoea including death in few hours.
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is a disease that affects your liver that spreads from contaminated food, water or even when you get in contact with another person who is infected. A person suffering from Hepatitis A will face symptoms such as nausea, severe abdominal pain, fatigue and low-grade fever that will leave the person bedridden for a minimum of 2 months. Hepatitis A also causes jaundice, yellow skin, dark urine and severe vomiting. In order to treat this, you will have to take adequate rest and keep yourself hydrated.
Dysentery
This disease causes inflammation in your intestine that can lead to severe abdominal pain, diarrhoea, high fever and a feeling of incomplete bowel movements. Contaminated water can cause dysentery and you may have blood diarrhoea if the disease is in its extreme form. You don’t want to get into such a situation because treating blood diarrhoea can be time-consuming and painful at times. You will be put on IV fluids, liquid diet and antibiotics.
Trachoma
This water-borne disease is caused by a bacteria that is found in contaminated water called Chlamydia Trachomatis. The inner layer of your eyelids get rough and causes severe pain, cornea or in worse cases even blindness. It is usually caused due to poor hygiene and contaminated water and thus it falls under the category of water-borne diseases.
Arsenicosis
This chronic sickness is the result of consuming contaminated water, thereby causing drowsiness, severe headaches, confused state of mind, severe diarrhoea. All these symptoms will begin showing in 30 minutes. A person suffering from arsenic poisoning will face problems such as muscle cramps, excess saliva, bloody urine, severe hair loss, excessive sweating and vomiting. Well, you would not want to get into such a mess! So make sure that you consume good drinking water and live healthy.
Shigella
This is an infection that is caused by the shigella bacteria that causes bloody stools and severe diarrhoea. This disease is usually spread when a person does not wash their hands after changing a child’s diaper, or it can also be passed through contaminated food or even by swimming in contaminated water. This water-borne disease causes severe fever, abdominal pain and cramps and blood come mucus stools with can be fatal for the person’s life.
Malaria
Malaria, one of the leading causes of deaths in India has been around in most villages and cities in the country. This water-borne disease has a tendency to spread from person to person. A person suffering from this disease will face symptoms such as high fever and shivering sensation including severe headache. In severest form, this disease can cause severe medical complications such as anaemia, coma or even death.
Lead Poisoning
This type of infection is caused due to water contamination containing lead. You must be wondering what is lead and how bad is it for the human body? Well, lead is a harmful particle that can cause organ damage, high blood pressure, kidney-related problems that can prove to be dangerous in the future. So how does a person get affected by lead? Lead is a harmful chemical found in contaminated and it can affect a person while drawing water from old pipes.
Polio
Also known as infant paralysis, this disease is spread through contaminated water and food or in cases when a person gets in contact with an infected person. This disease affects a person’s spinal cord thereby causing muscle weakness and in extreme cases paralysis. However, this disease has become a rarely occurring phenomenon in India. It has the ability to affect a person by mouth and usually hands that have been contaminated with the stools of another person.
Preventive Measures of Water-Borne Diseases
- Like the most famous saying that prevention is better than cure, taking cautionary measures before any illness hits you badly, it is of utmost priority. The first thing that you can do is to consume good drinking water and practice hygienic ways at home. However, here is what you need to do to keep yourself safe from any kind of water-borne disease.
- Make sure that you consume water that is free from silt, dirt or sand particles.
- Drink water that is purified from water purifiers.
- Always develop hygienic practices of washing your hands before and after any meal.
- To ensure that your child stays safe from harmful disease makes sure that they wash their hands after they finish playing their games or when they enter the house.
- Make sure that the food is washed properly before you cook them. Also, washing food with contaminated water can lead to serious sickness that can turn out to be fatal for you and your family.
- You can also vaccinate yourself from water-borne diseases such as Hepatitis A and typhoid fever.
- Make it a point to use disposable glasses and plates if you are consuming outside food.
- Avoid consuming previously prepared food as this may lead to food poisoning.Also, make it a point to get your water purifiers serviced as most purifying filters in these systems need servicing very often.
