What Are the Dangers of Untreated Water?

The dangers of untreated water are numerous and frightful. Water is a perfect medium for all manner of harmful bacteria, microbes and toxins. Every year 1.7 million people, especially children, die because of diseases caught because they drank or bathed in untreated water. Diseases and deaths caused by untreated water overwhelmingly affect people in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia.

Bacteria: Cholera and Shigellosis

• Cholera is an acute disease whose main symptom is diarrhea. If left untreated it can kill within hours. About 100,000 to 120,000 people die of cholera every year. The disease is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and has an incubation period of two hours to five days. The short incubation period is what makes the disease virulent. The risk is closely related to the lack of clean water and sanitation. Shigellosis, or dysentery, is bloody diarrhea that's caused by the shigella bacterium. About 1.1 million people die from shigellosis every year, with 60% of the victims children under 5 years old. Three major species of shigella are responsible for bacillary dystenery, S. sonnei, S. flexneri and S. dysenteriae. Complications from the disease are peritonitis and septicemia (seen especially in malnourished children) and kidney failure.

Micoorganisms: Cryptosporidium and Giardia

• Cryptosporidium is a parasitic protozoa that's transmitted through untreated water. Its oocysts, or eggs, can be found in aquatic environments all over the world, and their concentration is related to the level of fecal pollution and human use of the water. Oocysts are very persistent and resistant to disinfectants that are commonly used to treat drinking water. The most prominent symptom is diarrhea, but other symptoms are stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and mild fever. The duration of the illness is about seven to 14 days, though mortality is low unless dehydration is very severe. Cysts of giardia are also found in water throughout the world. Giardia a protozoan with a tail, or a flagellum, and the cysts are shed with feces that can be transmitted to a new host. It also causes diarrhea, weakness, weight loss and abdominal pain.

Viruses: Gastroenteritis and Hepatitis A

• Gastroenteritis is the irritation and infection of the digestive tract. Dangerous in young children from one to five years old and in adults over 60, it can be caused by a viral infection transmitted through untreated water. The symptoms are watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, appetite loss, fever, weakness and nausea that sometimes causes vomiting. In healthy individuals the symptoms disappear in two to five days, though fatigue may linger. Hepatitis A is an inflammation of the liver also caused by a virus that an be caught through polluted water. The early symptoms are flu-like: fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and loss of appetite. At a later time jaundice (yellowing of eyes and skin) can occur from a buildup of bile in the blood. Dark urine results from bile in the urine.

Treatments

• Oral rehydrating salts can easily help cholera in most otherwise healthy patients, and shigella, cryptosporoidum and giardia can respond to vaccines. Hepatitis can respond to drug treatment, and in otherwise healthy people who have gastroenteritis medication is usually not needed unless the disease is severe and prolonged. Even so, good sanitation and clean water are the best preventatives.