Skip to main content
PMC home page
Epidemiology and Infection logoLink to Epidemiology and Infection
. 1990 Apr;104(2):253–259. doi: 10.1017/s0950268800059422

Environmental sanitation, food and water contamination and diarrhoea in rural Bangladesh.

F J Henry 1, S R Huttly 1, Y Patwary 1, K M Aziz 1
PMCID: PMC2271759  PMID: 2323358

Abstract

This study examined the role of food and water contamination in a health impact evaluation of a water and sanitation intervention project. Although lower diarrhoea rates were found in the improved area no consistent difference in food and water contamination was observed between areas. Furthermore, no relationship was found between contamination and diarrhoea in either area, even after controlling for the nutritional status of children. These results imply that other vehicles of transmission might be more important than food and water in diarrhoeal transmission. The focus of interventions should therefore be on changing behaviours to improve overall hygiene.

Full text

PDF
253

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Barrell R. A., Rowland M. G. Infant foods as a potential source of diarrhoeal illness in rural West Africa. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1979;73(1):85–90. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(79)90136-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Black R. E., Brown K. H., Becker S., Alim A. R., Merson M. H. Contamination of weaning foods and transmission of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli diarrhoea in children in rural Bangladesh. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1982;76(2):259–264. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(82)90292-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Black R. E., Dykes A. C., Anderson K. E., Wells J. G., Sinclair S. P., Gary G. W., Jr, Hatch M. H., Gangarosa E. J. Handwashing to prevent diarrhea in day-care centers. Am J Epidemiol. 1981 Apr;113(4):445–451. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113112. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Blum D., Feachem R. G. Measuring the impact of water supply and sanitation investments on diarrhoeal diseases: problems of methodology. Int J Epidemiol. 1983 Sep;12(3):357–365. doi: 10.1093/ije/12.3.357. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Blum D., Huttly S. R., Okoro J. I., Akujobi C., Kirkwood B. R., Feachem R. G. The bacteriological quality of traditional water sources in north-eastern Imo State, Nigeria. Epidemiol Infect. 1987 Oct;99(2):429–437. doi: 10.1017/s0950268800067923. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Echeverria P., Taylor D. N., Seriwatana J., Leksomboon U., Chaicumpa W., Tirapat C., Rowe B. Potential sources of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in homes of children with diarrhoea in Thailand. Bull World Health Organ. 1987;65(2):207–215. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Feachem R. G. Environmental aspects of cholera epidemiology. III. Transmission and control. Trop Dis Bull. 1982 Jan;79(1):1–47. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Feachem R. G. Interventions for the control of diarrhoeal diseases among young children: promotion of personal and domestic hygiene. Bull World Health Organ. 1984;62(3):467–476. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Guerrant R. L., Kirchhoff L. V., Shields D. S., Nations M. K., Leslie J., de Sousa M. A., Araujo J. G., Correia L. L., Sauer K. T., McClelland K. E. Prospective study of diarrheal illnesses in northeastern Brazil: patterns of disease, nutritional impact, etiologies, and risk factors. J Infect Dis. 1983 Dec;148(6):986–997. doi: 10.1093/infdis/148.6.986. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Henry F. J., Patwary Y., Huttly S. R., Aziz K. M. Bacterial contamination of weaning foods and drinking water in rural Bangladesh. Epidemiol Infect. 1990 Feb;104(1):79–85. doi: 10.1017/s0950268800054558. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Khan M. U. Interruption of shigellosis by hand washing. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1982;76(2):164–168. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(82)90266-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Lloyd-Evans N., Pickering H. A., Goh S. G., Rowland M. G. Food and water hygiene and diarrhoea in young Gambian children: a limited case control study. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1984;78(2):209–211. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(84)90279-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Rothman K. J., Poole C. A strengthening programme for weak associations. Int J Epidemiol. 1988 Dec;17(4):955–959. doi: 10.1093/ije/17.4.955. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rowland M. G., Barrell R. A., Whitehead R. G. Bacterial contamination in traditional Gambian weaning foods. Lancet. 1978 Jan 21;1(8056):136–138. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(78)90432-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Epidemiology and Infection are provided here courtesy of Cambridge University Press

RESOURCES