Gorham Tyler J, Yoo Joshua, Garabed Rebecca, Mouhaman Arabi, Lee Jiyoung
Division of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Apr 20;14(4):441. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14040441.
The Far North region in Cameroon has been more heavily impacted by cholera than any other region over the past decade, but very little has been done to study the drivers of waterborne diseases in the region. We investigated the relationship between water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) parameters, microbial and antibiotic resistance (AR) contamination levels in drinking water, and health outcomes using health survey and molecular analysis during June and July of 2014 in two settlement types (agro-pastoralist villages and transhumant pastoralist camps). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to determine fecal contamination sources, enteric pathogens, and antibiotic resistance genes. Ruminant-associated fecal contamination was widespread in both settlement types (81.2%), with human-associated contamination detected in 21.7% of the samples. spp. (59.4%) and Shiga toxin-producing (1 44.9% and 2 31.9%) were detected across all samples. Tetracycline resistance was found only in village samples. A significant difference in diarrheal incidence within the past 28 days among young children was found between camps (31.3%) and villages (0.0%). Our findings suggest that water contamination may play an important role in contributing to gastrointestinal illness, supporting the need for future research and public health intervention to reduce gastrointestinal illness in the area.
在过去十年中，喀麦隆的极北地区比其他任何地区都更容易受到霍乱的影响，但在研究该地区水源性疾病的驱动因素方面所做的工作却很少。2014年6月和7月，我们在两种定居点类型（农牧民村庄和游牧牧民营地）中，通过健康调查和分子分析，研究了水、环境卫生和个人卫生（WASH）参数、饮用水中的微生物和抗生素耐药性（AR）污染水平与健康结果之间的关系。采用定量聚合酶链反应来确定粪便污染源、肠道病原体和抗生素耐药基因。在两种定居点类型中，反刍动物相关的粪便污染都很普遍（81.2%），在21.7%的样本中检测到了与人类相关的污染。在所有样本中均检测到了 spp.（59.4%）和产志贺毒素 （1 44.9%和2 31.9%）。仅在村庄样本中发现了四环素耐药性。在营地（31.3%）和村庄（0.0%）的幼儿中，发现过去28天内腹泻发病率存在显著差异。我们的研究结果表明，水污染可能在导致胃肠道疾病方面发挥重要作用，这支持了未来开展研究和进行公共卫生干预以减少该地区胃肠道疾病的必要性。
