Contaminated Water and Enteric Infections

Assignment 1

Contents
QUESTION 1..................................................................................3
QUESTION 2..................................................................................6
References........................................................................................9

QUESTION 1
(A) Identification of a contemporary exposure-outcome
association
The outcome is the enteric diseases/infections.Enteric disease will
include three or more unformed stools daily and any documented
intestinal infection related to disordered intestinal absorptive
and/or barrier function. The outcome when found in young
children population, it may lead to hindrance of growth and
cognitive functioning.It was found that diarrhoeal ailments were
the second most common acute disorders in 2013, which led to 2.7
billion cases across the globe (1). A decrease of 7.9% is observed
in their incidence from 1990 to 2013, these are still regarded as one
of the most significant communicable diseases worldwide. By
2013, these diseases were placed among all the etiologies of death
globally (2). Moreover, diarrhoeal diseases lead to huge negative
socioeconomic effect. These were ranked among the top 50 causes
of Years of Life Lost (YLL) across the globe by 2013.There are
various causes of diarrhoeal diseases such as infections,
malnutrition, etc. but exposure to contaminated water is one of the
most significant causes due to a range of infectious agents such as
bacteria, protozoa, viruses, etc.The enteric illnesses are public
health issue in Australia. 33% of working population of Australian
miss on average one day of work each year (3). These disorders are

burden to the health care system, estimated around 1.2 billion
Australian dollars every year (3).
The prevalence of the outcome may vary with specific socio-
demographic groups or populations.Like the regions living at
regions which has contaminated supply of water will be most
frequently exposed to the pathogens present in the water and
thereby, the outcome will also be frequently observed in that
region. The low and middle income countries usually fail to
provide safe drinking water to their population and therefore, low
and middle income countries are most exposed. Further, in
developed countries people living in deprived areas belonging to
low socio-economic status have higher prevalence of the outcome.
Among the various population, the outcome predominantly relates
to the children population. It is mainly because this population is
most commonly exposed due to their ignorance while drinking
with water or playing near waterandbtheir low immunity. Among
them, though the scholar-age children were the most affected, but,
children under five years old also demonstrated high prevalence
showcasing the significance of paying attention to this group when
examining the epidemiology and interventions (4). There are other
main determinants of the outcome such as female gender, rural
dwellings and low socioeconomic status and poor personal
hygiene. These determinants have been considerably related to the
enteric parasitic infections.