Water Borne Disease News and Research

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Malawi’s cholera outbreak exacerbated by inadequate funding for water and sanitation

Malawi's worsening cholera crisis is the result of long-term neglect of the country's water supplies and water testing urgently needed, specialists say.

19 Jan 2023

New xylem filters can remove bacteria and viruses from contaminated drinking water

The interiors of nonflowering trees such as pine and ginkgo contain sapwood lined with straw-like conduits known as xylem, which draw water up through a tree's trunk and branches.

25 Mar 2021

Gut cells alert the body to danger during parasite invasion

To effectively combat an infection, the body first has to sense it's been invaded, then the affected tissue must send out signals to corral resources to fight the intruder.

28 Dec 2020

Multi-institutional project uses satellite data to determine incidences of cholera

Virginia Tech Professor Kevin Boyle is part of a multi-institutional project led by his former graduate Sonia Aziz that was just awarded one of three grants totaling $300,000 to quantify the benefits of using satellite data in decisions that improve socioeconomic outcomes for people and the environment.

16 Jul 2020

Summertime safety guidelines for children

Summer weather makes it much easier to motivate your kids to get off the couch and away from their screens. But while summer is a great time for families to spend time enjoying the outdoors, it is also the time of year when kids age 14 and younger are most frequently injured.

20 Jun 2019

Warning on the “raw water” drinking trend

For a few years now several companies have been marketing “raw water” that has been bottled directly from natural sources such as springs and small water bodies without filtration and treatment.

11 Jan 2018

WHO works with Ministry of Health to ramp up disease surveillance, treatment efforts to prevent cholera outbreak

In a move to prevent a cholera outbreak from spreading, the Ministry of Health of South Sudan with support from the World Health Organization and health partners are ramping up disease surveillance and treatment efforts.

29 Jul 2016

NJIT students building low-cost water filter for people suffering from kidney disease in rural Sri Lanka

Backed by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an interdisciplinary, student-led team from New Jersey Institute of Technology is building a low-cost water filter for villagers in the north central farming region of Sri Lanka who are suffering from high rates of chronic kidney disease.

19 Feb 2016

WHO and health cluster partners cope with health needs of internally displaced persons in South Sudan

The World Health Organization and partners are racing to cope with the health needs of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northeastern South Sudan where fighting continues and the humanitarian situation remains dire.

21 Aug 2015

Life-saving water, sanitation and hygiene supplies reaching children affected by Cyclone Pam

UNICEF in close collaboration with the Vanuatu Government and WASH Cluster partners have been working amidst logistical, communication and supply challenges to deliver safe drinking water by providing water containers, purification tablets, and soap to communities and evacuation centres in Shefa and Tafea provinces.

23 Mar 2015

Report: Proposed SDGs may not achieve policy objectives without clearer, more measurable targets

The proposed UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - a universal set of goals to guide international development to 2030 - will struggle to achieve their stated policy objectives without clearer, more measurable targets, according to a new report released today by the International Council for Science and the International Social Science Council.

16 Feb 2015

Researchers develop low-cost methods to tap arsenic-safe drinking water

Arsenic poisoning is widespread in Bangladesh, where ground water is contaminated by runoff from the Himalayas.

13 Oct 2014

Study finds that outbreaks of Buruli ulcer can be triggered by climate change

A disease prevalent in developing countries could be spread by the changes in rainfall patterns according to a new study.

7 Aug 2014

Norovirus vaccines: an interview with Dr Benjamin Lopman, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA

Noroviruses are a group of viruses. They're the leading cause of gastroenteritis, which causes diarrhea and vomiting. They affect the whole age range from young children to the elderly, and, in the US, they cause about 20 million cases annually.

28 Jul 2014

Water Missions International implements safe water solutions in Philippines in wake of typhoon

Millions in the Philippines are homeless….thousands are dead….devastation is indescribable. Can we dare to hope for a silver lining in Typhoon Haiyan?

26 Nov 2013

Probiotics may help keep bad germs at bay

Microbes are everywhere - thousands of species are in your mouth, and thousands are in a glass of tap water. The ones in your mouth are mostly harmless - as long as you brush and floss so they don't form a biofilm that allows gum disease a path into the blood stream.

4 Nov 2013

Evidence shows vaccination pilot campaigns highly successful during 2010 cholera epidemic

The deadly cholera epidemic that rocked earthquake-shattered Haiti in 2010, claiming 8,000 lives and counting, has rallied the public health community to seek water and sewer improvements that, combined with vaccination, could prevent some 89,000 future cholera infections.

11 Oct 2013

U.N. has 'moral responsibility' to address cholera outbreak in Haiti

Sometimes "[w]hen the international aid community descends on a vulnerable place ... good intentions make a bad situation even worse," a Boston Globe editorial states, adding that is "what happened two years ago, when United Nations peacekeepers arrived in Haiti in the wake of a devastating earthquake, bringing the deadly disease cholera with them."

14 Nov 2012

Haiti faces rise in cholera cases after flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy

"Flooding in Haiti caused by Hurricane Sandy has triggered a surge in cholera, with three deaths and almost 300 suspected cases, adding to a death toll from the storm of 54," the Financial Times reports.

6 Nov 2012

Heavy rainfall worsening cholera outbreaks in Sierra Leone, Guinea

"Heavy rainfall is accelerating the spread of cholera in Sierra Leone and Guinea, where existing health risks such as poor hygiene practices, unsafe water sources and improper waste management are believed to have triggered the disease which has killed 327 people and infected more than 17,400 in both countries since February," IRIN reports.

6 Sep 2012