Diseases from Unsanitary Water

By: Annie Finholm 

March 1, 2024

There is limited access to clean water across the entire world. However, water is a necessity–a key factor in one’s ability to survive. So, people are forced to drink dirty, unsanitized water as a result of the global water crisis. There are a multitude of dangerous diseases from unsanitary water, but according to the World Health Organization, cholera, hepatitis A, and polio, all stand out because they are some of the deadliest and most ailment-inducing illnesses. 

Unsanitary water pouring into the ocean.

Cholera

The first condition to focus on is cholera. According to the World Health Organization, this illness is “an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated.” Due to the particles found in dirty water, a person who contracts it will experience symptoms like “profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, thirst, leg cramps, [and] restlessness or irritability.”

The process by which this occurs is as follows: a person first ingests poorly or unfiltered water or contaminated food. Then, according to the National Institutes of Health, “toxigenic strains colonize the small intestine,” which, in turn, forces the strains to “multiply, secrete cholera toxin and are shed back into the environment by the host in secretory diarrhea.” This disease is most prominent in areas with inadequate access to safe water and sanitary practices.

Cholera typically does not have life-long effects, but it is very deadly when it is contracted. To help ease and cure the symptoms, a person must endure intravenous fluid and antibiotic rounds to help pass the strains through the body via feces. If not enough stool is passed, the condition may remain in the body, where it will become extremely deadly. 

Hepatitis 

Next, attention will be placed on hepatitis A, a disease that affects the liver. This virus can be obtained and contracted through both contact with an affected person and through the consumption of dirty unfiltered water or contaminated food. According to the CDC, the symptoms of this condition include, but are not limited to, “yellow skin or eyes, upset stomach, throwing up, fever, [and] diarrhea”. However, this disease can be treated with the hepatitis A vaccine.

Polio   

Polio, as defined by the CDC, is “an infectious disease caused by a virus that can spread from person to person and cause paralysis.” Polio is notorious for having the cure of an iron lung, a contraption in which a person is enclosed in a mechanical respirator for typically weeks or months. This is another condition that is contracted through the consumption of poorly or unfiltered water or contaminated food. The symptoms of polio are as follows: “fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck[,] and pain in the limbs”, writes the World Health Organization. However, the disease can progress into even more serious conditions and present more life-threatening symptoms. These progressions include meningitis and paralysis.

There is no cure for polio, merely ways to alleviate the symptoms. The aforementioned iron lung helps to satisfy a person’s loss of ability to breathe, which comes with the loss of muscle control. 

The Solution

These diseases from unsanitary water have one thing in common: they are a result of drinking contaminated water. Water is something we humans cannot function without. Those who do not have access to this item should not have to suffer for doing what they must to survive. Through the implementation of filters and similar systems, those in areas that have high levels of cholera, hepatitis A, and polio will not suffer as frequently or at all. Working as a union to combat these issues is important, especially because countless lives are at stake. There is long-lasting damage made to the body when some of these conditions are contracted. The number of people who are so seriously impacted by drinking poor water can be exponentially lowered with the assistance provided by organizations that work to end the global water crisis.  

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References:

"Cholera Transmission: the Host, Pathogen and Bacteriophage Dynamic." PubMed Central (PMC), www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3842031/#:~:text=On%20ingestion%20of%20these%20aquatic,the%20host%20in%20secretory%20diarrhoea. 

"Cholera." World Health Organization (WHO), 30 Mar. 2022, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cholera. 

"Drinking-water." World Health Organization (WHO), 13 Sept. 2023, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water#:~:text=Contaminated%20water%20and%20poor%20sanitation,individuals%20to%20preventable%20health%20risks. 

"Hepatitis A FAQs | CDC." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 Mar. 2023, www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hav/afaq.htm. 

"Illness and Symptoms." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 Nov. 2022, www.cdc.gov/cholera/illness.html. 

"A Look at Each Vaccine: Hepatitis A Vaccine." Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-details/hepatitis-a-vaccine#:~:text=The%20hepatitis%20A%20vaccine%20is%20made%20by%20taking%20whole%20hepatitis,How%20Are%20Vaccines%20Made%3F). 

"What is Polio?" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 July 2023, www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/index.htm.