Bacterial and Viral Pathogens in Groundwater in Bangladesh
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Project Summary
Over the past three decades, Bangladesh has experienced a nearly universal switch of human consumption from surface water to groundwater in order to improve health. This switch has not proven successful for two reasons: at least a third of the population pumping groundwater from existing tube wells in the country is exposed to toxic levels of arsenic, and diarrheal morbidity remains a severe problem for all age groups in rural Bangladesh. This study determines whether or not households that switched from shallow high-arsenic wells to shallow low-arsenic wells may have increased their exposure to certain microbial pathogens (cholera, E. coli, rotavirus, and shigella).
This study answers two research questions:
1) Has poor sanitation in densely populated villages resulted in widespread contamination of shallow aquifers?
2) Has the transition from surface water to tube wells exposed the population to toxic levels of arsenic resulting in spatial and temporal patterns in the distribution of certain types of diarrheal diseases?
Project Team Members
Michael Emch
Veronica Escamilla
Janey Messina
Marc Serre
Yasuyuki Akita
Larry Band
Presentations
Escamilla, V., M.E. Emch, L. van Geen, Y. Akita, M.L. Serre, L. Band. "Effects of neighborhood water and sanitation on diarrheal disease incidence." Pater presented at the Association of American Geographers, Las Vegas, Nevada, March 27th.
Akita, Y., V. Escamilla, M.E. Emch, M.L. Serre, 2008. Space/time analysis of cholera and shigella incidence rates across a region of Bangladesh. International Society for Environmental Epidemiology & International Society of Exposure Analysis, 2008 Joint Annual Conference, Pasadena, CA, USA. October 12-16.
Escamilla, V., M.E. Emch, L. van Geen, Y. Akita, M.L. Serre, L. Band. Effects of neighborhood water and sanitation on diarrheal disease incidence. Association of American Geographers, 2009 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. March 22-27.
Serre, M.L., Y. Akita, V. Escamilla, M. Emch, A. Kolovos (2008) Spatial analysis of arsenic exposure and diarrheal disease risk in Bangladesh related to population pressures on groundwater resources. European Geophysical Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria. April 13-18.
Funding
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, RO1/ EID, “Does Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh Raise Exposure to Rotavirus and E. Coli?” Emch, M.E. (PI); Band, L.; Serre, M., with Columbia University (van Geen, PI). $349,888-UNC Portion, 2007-10.
Collaborating Institutions
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
University of Tennessee Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology Research Group
