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Diseases Common to Sub Saharan
Africa that are Water Related
Cholera is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the
intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. One in 20 infected
persons has severe disease characterized by profuse watery
diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these persons, rapid loss
of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without
treatment, death can occur within hours.
Typhoid fever is a life-threatening illness caused by the
bacterium Salmonella Typhi. In the developing world, typhoid
affects 21.5 million persons each year. A person gets typhoid
fever from eating or drinking beverages contaminated with
sewage. Many people in the developing world do not have
access to clean water to wash their hands. Therefore, typhoid
fever is more common in areas of the world where handwashing
is less frequent and water is likely to be contaminated with
sewage.
Persons with typhoid fever usually have a sustained fever as
high as 103 to 104 F. They may also feel weak or have stomach
pains, headache, or loss of appetite. In some cases patients
have a rash of flat, rose-colored spots. Persons who do not get
treatment may continue to have fever for weeks or months, and
as many as 20% die from complications of the infection.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. People
with malaria often experience fever, chills, and flu-like illness.
Left untreated, they may develop severe complications and die.
Each year 350-500 million cases of malaria occur worldwide, and
over one milion people die, most of them young children in Africa
south of the Sahara.
Yellow fever is a viral disease that is transmitted to humans
through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Yellow fever can cause
severe, life-threatening illness.
Symptoms of severe infection are high fever, chills, headache,
muscle aches, vomiting, and backache. After a brief recovery
period, the infection can lead to shock, bleeding, and kidney and
liver failure. Liver failure causes jaundice (skin and whites of the
eyes), which gives yellow fever its name.
Onchocerciasis or river blindness, is an infection caused by the
parasite Onchocerca volvulus worm, spread by the bite of an
infected blackfly. When the blackfly bites an infected person, the
microscopic worm in the infected person infects the blackfly.
The bite of the infected blackfly infects other human beings,
thus the disease spreads. Infected persons will have dermatitis,
eye lesions, and or nodules under the skin. Skin biopsies will
identify the parasite. Globally an estimated 17.7 million have
the disease, 270,000 of these are blind and another 500,000 have
visual impairment. About 99% of the disease is in Africa.
West African trypanosomiasis, also called Gambian sleeping
sickness, is transmitted by the bite of an infected tsetse fly. It is
caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei gamiense.
Symptoms include fever, rash, swelling of the face and hands,
headaches, fatigue, aching muscles and joints, itching skin, and
swollen lymph nodes. Weight loss occurs as the disease
progresses. Other symptoms include personality change,
confusion, daytime sleepiness with nighttime sleep
disturbances. Symptoms become worse as the illness
progresses. About 12,000 new cases of West African sleeping
sickness occur each year. It is a serious illness which is fatal
after several years of infection if left untreated.
Dracunculiasis or Guinea Worm Diseases, is caused by a
parasite Dracunculus medinensis. Infected persons do not
usually have symptoms until about one year after they become
infected. A few days to hours before the worm emerges the
person may develop a fever, swelling and pain in the area. More
than 90% of the worms appear on the legs and feet, but may
emerge anywhere on the body.
Affected people in rural areas of Africa typically do not have
access to medical care. The disease affects poor communities in
remote parts of Africa that do not have safe drinking water. There
is no treatment for Guinea worm disease. The worm must be
removed by a trained doctor as it emerges from the infected
person's skin.
Frequently the skin lesions caused by the worm develop
secondary bacterial infections which can cause incapacitation
for weeks or months, sometimes permanent disability of joints
occurs. In 2007, Sudan and Ghana reported 9,173 cases of the
Guinea worm disease. At risk is anyone who drinks standing
pond water contaminated by persons with guinea worm disease.
Bilharzias or schistosomiasis is caused by a parasite, blood
trematodes. Various animals serve as carriers of the parasite.
Eggs are eliminated into water with feces or urine. These
penetrate the skin of a human host and mature to become
worms in humans, capable of moving between sites in the
human body. Symptoms may occur weeks after the initial
infection, including fever, cough, abdominal pain, and
occasionally, bloody diarrhea. The parasite eventually causes
damage in the human's brain or spinal cord leading to central
nervous system lesions. Human contact with infected water is
necessary for infection by schistosomes.
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