Water Borne Diseases

Water flowing over the surface of the earth picks up dirt, disease organisms, chemicals, and anything else in itspath that can be dissolved or moved. Water that soaks into the ground loses many of its suspended impurities, as it filters through the earth. Although the water becomes clearer, it dissolves minerals and other chemicals at the same time. Groundwater may be clear, but it is not pure and may contain harmful disease organisms and chemicals. Waterborne diseases do not appear immediately after drinking contaminated water.

Disease-producing organisms need time to grow and multiply inside a person before they cause illness. The time between drinking contaminated water and the appearance of the disease is called the incubation period. Absence of disease symptoms for several days after drinking untreated water is no guarantee that the water is pure. Lack of disease symptoms in the natives is no test either, as they may have become immune. instead, “Impure water is the primary cause of liver disease in India.

This coupled with the lack of awareness about vaccination against liver-related diseases is playing havoc with the lives of lakhs of Indians,” Dr Roger F. Butterworth from Canada and Dr Gerald Kircheis from Germany, two leading liver disease experts, told The Tribune here today. “In fact, hepatic encephalopathy – alteration of mental functions which occurs due to liver related diseases – was largely to be blamed on impure water in India, particularly in rural areas,” Dr Butterworth, director of the Neuroscience Research Unit, University of Montreal, Canada