Causes of water pollution By : Ileana Flores

III. CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION.

B. Pathogens in water.

Pathogens are infectious agents that cause diseases in people and other living beings, they are
commonly found in water.

Infectious pathogens in water affect the health of millions of humans around the world.
There are too many people that are exposed to the risks of drinking polluted water. Polluted water
contains pathogens that cause bad reactions in people producing several diseases.
Sadly, the number of people that are affected by these pathogens is increasing a lot in recent

years, possibly because of scarcity of potable water that is appearing in some places around the

world. People that are in this situation have to get water and they do not care what they have to do.


Most of the time the water that they get isn’t potable, and contains a lot of pathogens that damage

their bodies and cause diseases that some times might be mortal. People can even get infected by

a eating a fish that was living in polluted water. Such fish contain pathogen agents that will transfer

to humans at the moment that they eat the fish. That is why it is very important to clean carefully all

the things that we eat.


The diseases caused by pathogens are basically reflected in the intestines and in the stomach.

Most of the time the diseases caused by pathogens have very mild symptoms at first, like

diarrhea, fever, and dehydration. If these symptoms are not attended by a doctor and

medicated, they get worse and it is then when they can be mortal to the person that is infected by a

pathogen agent. There have been several cases in which people infected by pathogens

found in water have died because of dehydration. “According to the World Health Organization,

diarrheal disease accounts for an estimated 4.1% of the total DALY global burden of disease and

is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people every year. It was estimated that 88% of that

burden is attributable to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene, and is mostly

concentrated in children in developing countries” (LINK 3, page 1)

Some of the moral diseases that are cause by pathogens are: cholera, dysentery, and

poliomyelitis. Other of the diseases like tifus, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, amebic dysentery.

Schistosomiasis worms might be serious but not mortal, they are controllable diseases.





Cholera
Spread by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae
Drinking water contaminated with the bacterium In severe forms it is known to be one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known. Symptoms include very watery diarrhoea, nausea, cramps, nosebleed, rapid pulse, vomiting, and hypovolemic shock (in severe cases), at which point death can occur in 12–18 hours.
Dysentery
Caused by a number of species in the genera Shigella and Salmonella with the most common being Shigella dysenteriae
Water contaminated with the bacterium Frequent passage of feces with blood and/or mucus and in some cases vomiting of blood.

Polyomavirus infection
Two of Polyomavirus: JC virus and BK virus
Very widespread, can manifest itself in water, ~80% of the population has antibodies to Polyomavirus BK virus produces a mild respiratory infection and can infect the kidneys of immunosuppressed transplant patients. JC virus infects the respiratory system, kidneys or can cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in the brain (which is fatal).





( LINK 3, page 2,3,4,5)


LINK 1

http://www.minnehahacreek.org/pathogens.php


LINK 2

http://www.waterhealthconnection.org/


LINK 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterborne_diseases