Waterborne Diseases - Prevention, Risk Factors and Home Remedies

Waterborne Diseases Prevention: How to Stay Safe

Water is a life-giving liquid that can swiftly shift to a life-threatening, lethal source. In 2023, the WHO highlighted persistent health hazards from inadequate drinking water and estimated 1.4 million deaths from unsafe water. 

The monsoon season raises the likelihood of waterborne disease from unsafe, polluted water with viruses and bacteria. People who live in locations with inadequate water treatment and sanitation facilities pose a higher health risk. Safe drinking water and a clean environment are the treatment for waterborne diseases.   

This blog delves into waterborne disease treatment, preventive measures, and risk factors to protect individuals and their families from illnesses.  
 

What are Common Waterborne Diseases?

Waterborne diseases are caused by pathogens such as different microbes, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites through polluted or contaminated water. These pathogenic microorganisms can enter the body through the consumption or ingestion of already contaminated water and during bathing or swimming. Pathogen-contaminated water affects the gastrointestinal tract of the human body, causing mild discomfort and dehydration in case not treated in a timely manner.

Lack of safe drinking water availability, improper sanitation, and poor hygiene practices directly contribute to waterborne diseases. Here are the major waterborne diseases, including:

1. Cholera
2. Typhoid fever
3. Dysentery
4. Hepatitis A
5. Giardiasis
6. E. coli infection
7. Cryptosporidiosis
8. Norovirus infection
9. Diarrhoea
    

What Risk Factors are Typically Associated with Waterborne Diseases?

Ineffective sanitation, agricultural runoff, sewage leaks, and poor waste disposal are the risk factors for contaminated water. In the monsoon season, heavy rainfall is the reason for worsening these issues by spreading contaminants into lakes, rivers, and reserved underground water from different sources.

Several factors can lead to the risk of waterborne diseases; these are:

1. Poor Sanitation: Open defecation and lack of effective sewage systems directly lead to the transmission of waterborne diseases.  
2. Contaminated Water Usage: Using inadequate, untreated, unsafe water for cooking, drinking, bathing, food washing, and hand washing contributes to waterborne diseases.
3. Unhygienic and Overcrowded Living Conditions: People living in a dense and highly populated area without proper access to sanitation facilities and clean water can contract waterborne diseases.   
4. Environmental Conditions: Flooding and heavy rainfall contaminate water with pollutants and sewage. This led to an ideal environment for dangerous viruses and bacteria to thrive.
5. Lack of access to safe water: The lack of safe drinking water that is free from bacterial or viral contamination has a serious impact on the spread of waterborne diseases.
6. Unprotected Storage: Using open containers for storing water poses a risk of contamination from several sources, including environmental pollutants and insects.
7. Poor Hygiene Practice: Poor handwashing habits can impact respiratory infections. Inadequate hand hygiene can contribute to the transmission of waterborne diseases and other illnesses.  
    

How to Prevent Waterborne Diseases and Stay Safe?

Good habits and water-wise hygiene practices are beneficial to protect yourself, friends, and family members from diseases. Here are a few remedies for waterborne illness.   
 

1. Drinking Safe Water: Ensure your drinking water is safe and non-contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms. Drink treated water and avoid drinking water with ice and tap water. It is safe to install a water purifier at home and drink bacteria-free, virus-free water.   
2. Practise hygiene.: To prevent contamination or disease transmission, proper handwashing is important. Everyone should wash their hands with clean water and soap after using the toilet, before eating food, and after handling waste or animals.  
3. Boil Water Before Drinking: Boiling water is an effective waterborne disease treatment option that kills harmful microorganisms through heat. Individuals should let the water boil for a minute or longer to make it pathogen-free. Now, use the safe water for cooking, drinking, brushing teeth, and bathing.
4. Sanitation Facilities: Proper sewage systems and clean toilets are essential waterborne disease treatment approaches. Moreover, the sewage system transports and disposes of wastewater from businesses, homes, and human waste and prevents direct contamination from local water sources.   
5. Safe and Covered Water Storage: Using a covered water storage can save water from being contaminated by dirt, insects, and pollutants like parasites and bacteria. Furthermore, avoid reusing old containers before cleaning because they can hold non-food or chemical substances. This waterborne disease treatment idea eliminates the risk of diseases like food poisoning.
6. Practise Food Safety: Practising food hygiene is important, so be mindful of washing vegetables and fruits before cooking and eating. Everyone should avoid eating undercooked or raw seafood to minimise the risk of food poisoning and parasitic infection.   
7. Maintaining Proper Cleanliness: Maintaining clean surroundings is an effective waterborne disease treatment measure. Cleanliness eliminates stagnant water that harbours waterborne pathogens and mosquito breeding from the surroundings. Use disinfectants and maintain clean gutters and drains to avoid waterlogging and pathogen spread.
8. Stay Vaccinated: Vaccination is a crucial waterborne disease treatment, especially for hepatitis A, cholera, and typhoid fever. Ensure you, your family, and friends are vaccinated against particular diseases. Additionally, the government sponsors regular vaccination camps for children and adults in high-risk areas to control disease and ensure health safety.  
9. Implementation of Water Treatment Method : UV disinfection, water filtration, and chlorination are effective waterborne disease treatment methods. The filtration system removes small particles, parasites, and bacteria to treat water infections. Using chlorine in swimming pool water kills bacteria to ensure safety from further contamination. Moreover, UV disinfection involves ultraviolet light that can destroy microorganisms in water immediately.

What are the Treatment Options for Managing Waterborne Illnesses?

Waterborne disease treatment involves immediate diagnosis to identify the disease-causing pathogen, stop its growth, and treat water infections. Here are some medical options for managing waterborne disease that everyone can adopt.

1. Rehydration and Nutrition: Severe waterborne diseases like vomiting and diarrhoea cause fluid loss that leads to electrolyte imbalance and dehydration. So, taking intravenous fluid or ORS solutions, oral rehydration therapy helps to replace the loss. Furthermore, adequate nutrition is important for recovery and also boosts the body's immune system.   
    
2. Antiparasitic drugs and antibiotics: Use antiparasitic drugs and antibiotic medicines for waterborne disease treatment. For example, antiparasitic drugs like nitazoxanide, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, and albendazole are medications for waterborne disease treatment. Moreover, antibiotics also treat illnesses such as typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.
        

Well, supportive care, including monitoring clinical progression and supporting patients with mental support, generates a speedy recovery.  

Final Words

Contaminated water with pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites is spreading waterborne diseases. Diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and hepatitis are common waterborne diseases.

Boiling water before use, practising good food hygiene and cleanliness, water treatment with chlorine, and ultraviolet lights are effective waterborne disease treatment options. Besides that, waterborne disease treatment involves rehydration therapy, medication with antibiotics, and antiparasitic drugs.