Diarrhoea Outbreak In Central Highlands Due Water Contamination

The mayor of Bluff is upset with the claims that almost all the people in the central Queensland town have contracted diarrhoea by drinking contaminated water.

Central Highlands mayor Peter Maguire hit out at the claims of resident Tim Cummings that "the water is so crook, just about everyone gets gastric sooner or later."

Management of diarrhea
Management of acute diarrhea is directed at preventing or treating dehydration that so often accompanies the disease. Treatment of a child with diarrhea is based on presence or absence of dehydration.

Maguire said that he's "got the s..ts" with reports.

"The whole town doesn't have diarrhoea," the Courier Mail quoted Maguire as saying.

"The story is that everyone in the town has got diarrhoea but that's not true and it (the report) has given me the s..ts," he added.

About Water Borne Diseases
Waterborne diseases are communicable diseases caused by diseases causing microorganisms in contaminated water. It is more prevalent during floods and in tsunami affected areas.

Maguire said the town had endured problems with its drinking water with runoff from a coalmine increasing salinity and a mechanical breakdown at the Blackwater Water Treatment Plant, leading to partially treated water entering the drinking supply on December 15.

Cumming had claimed that almost everyone in town had contracted diarrhoea from drinking water contaminated by the Ensham mine.

Waterborne Disease
Interactive section of Medindia gives details regarding waterborne disease

Maguire said he could definitely taste the salt in the water after an earlier release of water from the coal mine but he did not believe it had caused a diarrhoea outbreak.

"We've just had a lot of rain that has flushed out all that dirty water," he said.

Issues Surrounding Drinking Water
Ensuring quality drinking water requires a holistic approach, including water security and concrete steps to prevent industrial pollution, argues a public health activist based in southern India.

Residents of Blackwater and Bluff had been advised to boil their drinking water after the December 15 breakdown at the water treatment plant.

A note on the council's website advised residents that the situation has now been resolved.

Source-ANI
SRM