7 Most Common Waterborne Diseases And How To Prevent Them

Lifewater teaches proper handwashing in three developing countries.When handwashing in unavailable, cholera can impact an entire village. In developing countries like Ethiopia, data shows that 40 percent of households do not have means to wash their hands properly, meaning they don’t have safe water, soap, and a facility to wash. This makes hygiene management and disease prevention nearly impossible for these communities.



In mild forms, symptoms of leptospirosis include fever, headache, and muscle aches. Severe leptospirosis causes jaundice, kidney dysfunction, and bleeding; this triad of symptoms is referred to as Weil’s disease. Severe leptospirosis can also present with pulmonary hemorrhage, or bleed from the lungs, which may or may not be accompanied by jaundice. Leptospirosis is distributed globally; however, it is most common in tropical and subtropical regions. It’s estimated that leptospirosis affects one million people a year, with 10% of infected people dying of the infection.

Although the immediate effects of Category 5 hurricanes are shocking, resulting in floodwaters carry more insidious threats such as waterborne disease. A review of 548 outbreaks dating back to 1900 showed that 51% of these outbreaks were preceded by heavy downpours. Amoebiasis, or amebiasis, refers to infection caused by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica.

Changes in hydrology resulting from climate change are expected to alter releases of chemical contaminants into the Nation’s surface waters,226 with as-yet-unknown effects on seafood contamination. Specific health outcomes are determined by different exposure pathways and multiple other social and behavioral factors, some of which are also affected by climate (Figure 6.1). Thus, it is often not possible to quantitatively project future health outcomes from water-related illnesses under climate change (bottom box in Figure 6.1). Many waterborne illnesses are diarrheal diseases, including cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis.

In cases of severe disease, kidney dysfunction needs to be treated with short-term dialysis. It’s important to treat leptospirosis with antibiotics to prevent organ failure. Patients should be treated as soon as possible before organ failure occurs. Leptospirosis can be treated with a broad range of antibiotics, including, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, or doxycycline.

The unprocessed water from such sources becomes harmful for routine use due to the high microbial burden. The overflowing of sewage treatment plants during floods becomes the immediate risk that needs to be curbed. On the other hand, drought-affected areas also become high-risk due to the accumulation of high concentration of pathogens in a limited amount of available water sources. The protozoan organism is transmitted by unknowingly consuming cysts in food, and it affects the intestine. The common symptoms of amoebiasis include abdominal cramps and watery stools.

Over 286 million Americans Water Crisis in india get their tap water from a community water system . The US Environmental Protection Agency regulates drinking water quality in public water systems and sets maximum concentration levels for water chemicals and pollutants. There are many parts in the world where waterborne diseases are rampant, deadly, and knowledge about prevention is not widely available.

Cholera ravages developing nations with poor water and sewage treatment, and is the scourge of famine, crowding, and war. The last big outbreak of cholera in the Western hemisphere occurred in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Water-related insect vector diseases include malaria, filariasis, yellow fever, and river blindness. The most common of these, Malaria, is transmitted through the mosquitos which breed on fresh or brackish water. These diseases are spread by insects which form habitats on stagnant water sources.

Avoiding the water clogging (e.g., from rain) surrounding the houses is an important step to prevent water-borne diseases. Water-borne diseases are the ones caused by pathogenic microbes spread via contaminated water. Anyone with a diarrheal illness should avoid swimming in public pools or lakes, sharing baths with others, and preparing food for others.