What M a k e s Wat er U nsa fe ?
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Diarrhea diseases
Most diarrhea diseases are caused by a lack of water for
personal cleanliness, toilets that are not clean and safe, and
contaminated water and food.
Signs
The most common sign of diarrhea disease is frequent, runny
or liquid feces. Other signs include fever, headache, trembling,
chills, weakness, stomach and intestinal cramps, vomiting, and swollen belly.
What treatment to give depends on the kind of diarrhea a person has.
These signs can help you know which diarrhea disease a person has:
• Cholera: diarrhea like rice water, intestinal pain and cramping, vomiting.
• Typhoid: fever, severe intestinal pain and cramping, headache,
constipation or thick diarrhea (like pea soup).
• Giardia: diarrhea that looks greasy, floats, and smells bad, intestinal
pain, low fever, vomiting, gas, burps sometimes smell like rotten eggs.
• Bacterial dysentery (Shigella): bloody diarrhea 10 to 20 times a day, fever,
severe intestinal pain and cramping.
• Amebic dysentery: diarrhea 4 to 10 times a day, often with white mucus,
fever, intestinal pain and cramping, and diarrhea right after eating.
• Roundworm: swollen belly, weakness, large pink or white worms that
may come out in feces or through the mouth and nose.
• Hookworm: diarrhea, weakness, anemia, pale skin. Children with
hookworm may eat dirt.
• Whipworm: diarrhea, thin pink or grey worms in feces.
To learn more about treating diarrhea diseases and worm infections, see
Chapters 12 and 13 in Where There Is No Doctor.
Treatment for diarrhea diseases
Diarrhea is best treated by giving plenty of liquids and food. In most cases,
but not all, no medicine is needed. (For more information, see a health worker
or a general health book such as Where There Is No Doctor.)
• Amebic dysentery is best treated with medicines.
• Typhoid is best treated by antibiotics because it can last for weeks and
lead to death.
• Cholera is best treated with rehydration drink, lots of fluids, and easy-
to-digest foods to replace nutrients lost through diarrhea and vomiting.
Medicines may be used to prevent cholera from spreading.
If a person has bloody diarrhea, fever, or is very sick, he or she needs to go to
a health center right away.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012