Domestic Hygiene Research Articles

Study of Hepatitis "A" Outbreak in a rural community in Southern Bulgaria

Background: The hepatitis A virus is one of the most frequent causes of foodborne infection in Bulgaria. Public health interventions that prevent mortality and morbidity have greatly increased over the past decade. Immunization is one of these preventive interventions, with a potential to bring economic benefits beyond just health benefits. Aims: To identify the possible risk factors associated with the occurrence of outbreak of hepatitis A in rural community in Bulgaria and provide recommendations for control and prevention of the disease and to prevent its recurrence. Methods: This study investigated an outbreak of viral hepatitis A in a rural community of Iscra, a small villagein SouthernBulgaria, during January-March 2012. Hundredtwenty-six blood samples, 10 water samples and 42 food samples were collected. Serum samples were tested for IgM and IgG anti HAV and IgM and IgG anti HEV antibodies. Results:125 people are infected with 69 men (86.25%) and 56 women (13.75%). at a large number of infected in age group 15-19 years (28.75%), followed by 5-9 years (18.74%). The epidemic curve showed occurrence of a peak every 4 to 6 weeks.The identified risk factors was contact with jaundice case (OR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.39-4.36) and this risk increased further in the group of close relatives (OR = 7.79, 95% CI = 1.10-67.13). Accidents were frequently found in water system supplying drinking water to the village. There were no sewerage system and treatment plant in the village. Five hundred contact persons were followed up and tested, and three hundred and sixty of them were vaccinated. Conclusions: This epidemic is an exacerbation of a common source as well as a person-to-person transmission. Future similar outbreaks could be prevented mainly by water source control. It is necessary to increase the requirements for measures of social and domestic hygiene. It is recommended to conducthealth education, specific immunization and food safety will give the best result for disease prevention.

Fecal Indicator Bacteria Contamination of Fomites and Household Demand for Surface Disinfection Products: A Case Study from Peru

Surface-mediated disease transmission is understudied in developing countries, particularly in light of the evidence that surface concentrations of fecal bacteria typically exceed concentrations in developed countries by 10- to 100-fold. In this study, we examined fecal indicator bacterial contamination of dinner plates at 21 households in four peri-urban communities in the Peruvian Amazon. We also used surveys to estimate household use of and demand for surface disinfectants at 280 households. Despite detecting total coliform, enterococci, and Escherichia coli on 86%, 43%, and 24% of plates sampled, respectively, less than one-third of households were regularly using bleach to disinfect surfaces. Among non-users of bleach, only 3.2% of respondents reported a new demand for bleach, defined as a high likelihood of using bleach within the next year. This study highlights the potential for marketing approaches to increase use of and demand for surface disinfectants to improve domestic hygiene.

Aetiology and factors associated with bacterial diarrhoeal diseases amongst urban refugee children in Eastleigh, Kenya: A case control study.

IntroductionKenya is home to over 400 000 refugees from neighbouring countries. There is scanty information about diarrhoea amongst urban refugees in Kenya.ObjectivesWe investigated the enteric bacteria causing diarrhoea amongst urban refugee children and described the associated factors.MethodDuring the period of August–December 2010, urban refugee children between the ages of two and five who attended Eastleigh County Council Health Centre were enrolled into the study. Diarrhoeal cases were compared with age-matched children with no diarrhoea (controls). Stool specimens were collected and enteric bacteria isolated. A questionnaire was administered to identify risk factors.ResultsA total of 41 cases and 41 controls were enrolled in the study. The age and country of origin were similar for cases and controls. The bacterial isolation rates amongst the cases were: non-pathogenic Escherichia coli 71%, Shigella dysenteriae 2.4%, Shigella flexneri 2.4%, Salmonella paratyphi 5%. For the controls, non-pathogenic E. coli 90% and enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) 2.4% were amongst the organisms isolated. All isolates were resistant to amoxicillin; resistance to other antibiotics varied by isolate type. Factors associated independently with diarrhoea included children not washing their hands with soap (aOR 5.9, p < 0.05), neighbour(s) having diarrhoea (aOR 39.8, p < 0.05), children not exclusively breastfed for their first 6 months (aOR 7.6, p < 0.05) and children eating food cooked the previous day (aOR 23.8, p = 0.002).ConclusionsShigella species, Salmonella species and ETEC were found to be responsible for diarrhoea amongst the urban refugee children. Measures to control and guide the use of antibiotics are critical for the prevention of antibiotic resistance. Efforts to improve personal and domestic hygiene, including educational campaigns to promote appropriate handwashing, should be encouraged.

Pathogenic Escherichia coli in rural household container waters

Plastic containers in the range of 5-20 L are widely used - especially in rural African settings - to collect, transport and store water for domestic use, including drinking, bathing and hygiene. The pathogen content of the waters in these containers has not been adequately characterized as yet. This paper presents the primary findings of a synoptic survey of drinking water quality samples from these containers and involved collection of bacterial indicator and pathogenicity gene data. In total, 571 samples of a variety of waters were taken in rural communities in South Africa and the Escherichia coli numbers measured. Of the E. coli positive samples, 46% (n = 148) were screened for the presence of E. coli pathogen gene markers. Though synoptic, the survey provided many insights into the issues that drove the study. Container use markedly degraded water quality as judged by indicator counts, even where improved water supply services were in place. Household container use also appeared to promote regrowth or contamination of containers with pathogenic E. coli strains. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis also showed that the diversity of potential pathogenic E. coli carrying virulence genes was great. All seven genes screened for (Ial, Stx1, Stx2, EaeA, Eagg, ST, LT) were found in the waters, alone or as mixtures (number of different combinations = 31) including those characteristic of the more dangerous invasive and haemorrhagic E. coli strains. Given the central role of containers in the management of water supply to rural communities, it is clear the microbiology of these waters requires much further characterization.

Plants used in folk cosmetics and hygiene in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park (western Spain).

In the present work we assess and document the ethnobotanical knowledge about cosmetic plants and plant species useful for personal and domestic hygiene in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park (provinces of Salamanca and Zamora, Spain). Field work was conducted between 2005 and 2009 by means semi-structured interviews and participant observation as well as transect walks in wild herbal plant collection areas, with 80 informants (mean age 72) in 18 localities. The informants, in particular the elderly women, are familiar with 32 useful plants distributed in 18 botanical families and know how to use them in a variety of ways. The most frequently used plants were Thymus mastichina (L.) L. and Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp. Different plant parts are used, but the branches are exploited more frequently. The uses documented are of great ecological value since the products obtained are less harmful to our health and the environment.

Microbial water quality risks to public health: potable water assessment for a flood-affected town in northern Pakistan

In mid-July 2010 flash flooding in Pakistan destroyed the basic water, environmental sanitation and livelihood infrastructures in 82 districts. Two months later, the local press of Swat (northern Pakistan) reported that several residents of Marghazar town became ill and were hospitalized after drinking contaminated water. A non-governmental organization (Oxfam GB) team took action to determine the causes of this incident and analyzed the community drinking water supply. Standard methods were used to analyze six physio-chemical and four microbiological water quality parameters at five selected sampling locations in the water supply system. The samples from sites numbers (SN)02, 03, 04 and 05 were found to be microbiologically unfit for drinking due to the presence of Escherichia coli, Shigella, Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus (range 18-96 ± 14 cfu/100 mL). However, the pH, conductivity, total dissolved solid, total hardness as calcium carbonate and nitrate as NO3(-2) of all the samples were within WHO permissible limits. Higher turbidities were recorded at SN04 and 05 of 6 ± 0.23 and 9 ± 1.23, respectively. Quantitative results revealed the presence of pathogenic organisms and water quality risk factors due to the damaged water and environmental sanitation infrastructure. Continued water quality monitoring, the application of household based disinfectants, and healthy domestic hygiene practices are highly recommended in similar circumstances.

Space, Identity and Health Risks: a study of domestic waste in Ibadan, Nigeria

Poor waste management has characterized Ibadan’s modern and historical identity. As a consequence, residents of Ibadan (indigenes) hold diverse views about the city's image, while non-indigenes label it "filthy" and "dirty". These perceptions, spatial and cultural, are deep rooted, intertwining with the political and cultural plane of Nigerian society. A distinction between “self” and “others” is seen to mark a discourse and counter discourse in the perception of health risks associated with domestic waste in the Ibadan. Through survey and descriptive ethnography, our paper examines the nature and extent of domestic waste in Ibadan, as a physical, community and psychological reality, where we seek to explain how generation and poor waste management impacts on these spaces and the very mechanics of identity. Different perceptions of health risks are observed as well the vulnerability to diseases associated with domestic waste and poor hygiene, bringing into play the socioeconomic variables and residential patterns which constitute the daily reality of this city. Our study establishes that the increase in urban population, the low economic status, the indiscriminate setting up of artisans’ shops or outlets and the overall inability of government agencies to monitor the menace of domestic waste and its attendant health risks, are central factors to the problem generically deemed one of “waste”.

Risk factors for inflammatory bowel diseases according to the “hygiene hypothesis”: A case–control, multi-centre, prospective study in Southern Italy

BackgroundUlcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) are inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) of unknown aetiology. The ‘hygiene hypothesis’ (HH) suggests that several hygiene-related factors may have contributed to the increased incidence of IBD. The aim of the study was to evaluate risk factors for IBD related to HH in a cohort of IBD patients from the south of Italy. MethodsWe prospectively performed a one-year, questionnaire-based, case–control, multi-centre study focusing on the principal risk factors for IBD according to HH. We investigated the main surrogate markers of HH (helmintic infections and antibiotics in childhood; breastfeeding; family size/sibship;urban upbringing; personal and domestic hygiene in childhood) in UC and CD patients, in comparison with a control group of healthy subjects. In addition, the traditional risk factors for IBD were also recorded. ResultsThe study population included 527 cases of UC, 468 CD and 562 controls. None of the surrogate risk factors of HH was significantly associated with IBD. On the contrary, the traditional risk factors confirmed their statistical significance in this IBD population. Familial aggregation: OR 4.07 for UC; OR 4.83 for CD; smoking: OR 0.38 for UC; OR 1.40 for CD; appendectomy: OR 0.28 for UC; OR 1.61 for CD. ConclusionEven though risk factors associated to the HH have been proposed as a possible explanation for the increasing calendar trend of IBD incidence, their role does not appear to be statistically significant. Familial aggregation, smoking habits and appendectomy still remain the main risk factors associated with IBD.

Both Ethiopians and Israelis: Veteran immigrants instruct new immigrants

Synopsis This article deals in women instructors ( somchot ), veteran immigrants from Ethiopia, who are employed as part of the absorption mechanism for immigrants from Ethiopia in Israel. They were instructed to teach domestic functions according to Israeli norms. However, when fulfilling these functions, the instructors also afford cultural interpretations and add their own messages. The article presents three foci in the instructors' work. One focus is on cleanliness and health. In compliance with the state's instructions they impart the Israeli model of domestic cleanliness and personal hygiene to the immigrants. A second focus is a message regarding partnership, which deviates from their role definition and views maintaining the intactness of the marriage among the immigrants as essential for the absorption process. The third focus is the attitude toward the immigrants' ethnic tradition. It is apparent that the women instructors, out of emotional identification, are in favor of the preservation of their culture. Culturally the instructor is Ethiopian on the one hand and Israeli on the other. Israeli society has entrusted her with the role of imparting the Israeli culture. However, she is at the same time an immigrant who lacks power herself. Nonetheless, these women instructors perceive themselves as representatives of the absorbing establishment and strive to resemble the Israeli reference group. The work of these instructors can be viewed as feminist activity of teaching the female immigrants ways in which they can identify tools which they need for coping with the gap between the traditional and the new norms.

SP6-29 Homemakers' practices and perceptions: risk factors for childhood disease in an underserved community in Lebanon

IntroductionDiarrhoea presents a global health problem and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Over the decades, the rate of morbidity due to diarrhoea among children has...

Soap and water: cleanliness, dirt and the working classes in Victorian and Edwardian Britain

This book is based on a body of research investigating the visual and material culture of the Victorian and Edwardian working classes. It focuses in particular on issues of cleanliness and dirt, which are understood as both material practices and as a complex set of discourses around domesticity, respectability, motherhood, the body and personal subjectivity. The book deals with this subject in three chapters, looking at 'official' discourses around cleanliness and dirt (advice literature and government publications), the actual practice of routines of cleanliness within the home (using autobiographical and social observation sources as evidence) and the development of commercial imagery around cleanliness, as soap became a heavily branded and advertised product. The book is original because of this cross-referencing of sources, and because it pays detailed attention to working-class material culture of the period, which is usually neglected in favour of analyses of middle- or upper-class domesticity. Although this book has a strong social history content, it is fundamentally concerned with the materiality and representation of social life: the research methods used include those of design history and material culture history, with more 'traditional' documentary sources set alongside objects (the branding, packaging and advertising ephemera of soap). The following conference papers and talks have disseminated this research: • ‘Soap Stories: mothers, homes and the tasks of cleanliness in working-class autobiography’, Social History Society Conference, University of Manchester, April 2011 • ‘Dirt, Sweat and Tears: how soap advertisements spread fear of dirt and germs and a rhetoric of hygiene’, public talk in association with Dirt: the filthy reality of everyday life exhibition, Wellcome Collection, July 2011 • ‘ “When he died I was hoping it wasn’t contagious”: disease and domestic hygiene, c.1880 – 1914’, King’s College London, History of Health and Medicine seminar, May 2013

De libros elegantes a folletos rústicos: lecturas y conocimientos de higiene y enseñanzas domésticas para las mujeres rurales mexicanas

The article deals with various discourses on reading for Mexican women, focusing on those that contain prescriptions on domestic hygiene. The selected publications are from the late 19th and early 20th century, when modern hygienistic ideas were disseminated through periodicals, textbooks and books for women. The second part of the article discusses the promotion of domestic hygiene and education in rural households in the years following the Mexican Revolution through various official publications. Keywords: reading, women, rural.

De libros elegantes a folletos rústicos: lecturas y conocimientos de higiene y enseñanzas domésticas para las mujeres rurales mexicanas

The article deals with various discourses on reading for Mexican women, focusing on those that contain prescriptions on domestic hygiene. The selected publications are from the late 19th and early 20th century, when modern hygienistic ideas were disseminated through periodicals, textbooks and books for women. The second part of the article discusses the promotion of domestic hygiene and education in rural households in the years following the Mexican Revolution through various official publications.Keywords: reading, women, rural.

Of Tubs and Toil: Kohler Workers in an Empire of Hygiene, 1920–2000

SummaryThis paper examines contests over the intimate and global geographies of domestic hygiene advanced by the Kohler Company, a plumbing-ware manufacturer that promoted “American” standards living in its welfare-capitalist industrial village of Kohler, Wisconsin. Drawing from the approaches of labor history, cultural history, and critical geography, it demonstrates the value of combining these methodologies. The perspectives of Kohler workers on “American” living standards, it reveals, complicate cultural histories that cast such workers as uncritical audiences for imperializing claims about the superiority of American sanitation. The paper argues that workers who struggled to unionize the Kohler plant challenged company definitions of “American” standards and generated alternative, laborite maps of domestic hygiene and the labor associated with it among local immigrant workers and laborers elsewhere in the world. It considers the legacy of those maps in the context of the company’s changing global networks of production and consumption.

Water quality of domestic wells in typical African communities: Case studies from Nigeria

Several African communities obtain their domestic water supplies from dug wells and this study takes Ibogun, Pakoto and Ifo communities in Ogun State, Nigeria as being typical. The objective is to assess the quality of the water supply from these dug wells, ascertain the contamination problems that may confront the consumers, and provide appropriate remedies. Twenty dug wells were randomly selected in each community. Water samples from the selected dug wells were collected during July - August 2009. The samples were checked for odour, colour and taste; and through standard methods, they were analyzed for pH, total solids, total hardness, chlorides, sulphate, nitrates, magnesium, calcium, manganese, sodium, copper, zinc, iron and lead; total viable count, total coliform count, faecal coliform count and faecal streptococci count. Most of the pH values of the samples were outside the recommended range of 6.5 – 8.5 for drinking water. Predominantly, the ionic dominance pattern observed were Na > Ca > Mg and HCO3 > Cl > SO4, indicating typical cationic characteristics and anionic characteristics of groundwater. For total solids and total hardness, guideline values were largely met. Levels of iron did not exceed the WHO guideline value of 0.2 mg/l for Fe in drinking water. Mean levels of Mn measured were far in excess of the average of 0.01 mg/l for fresh water, while in relation to the WHO guideline value of 0.4 mg/l for Mn in drinking water, the levels measured were low. Generally, the levels of nitrates, sulphate, chlorides, magnesium, manganese and iron were moderately high, but the WHO guidelines were not exceeded. The WHO guidelines for microbiological quality of water were met in several cases. Matching of non-technical and techno-social remedial measures is recommended. These include sensitization of the populace on merits of qualitative domestic hygiene and environmental protection practices such as cleaner compounds and strict enforcement of environmental protection laws. Key words: Dug wells, water, physico-chemical analyses, microbial analyses.

An ecological approach to health promotion in remote Australian Aboriginal communities

Poor environmental conditions and poor child health in remote Australian Aboriginal communities are a symptom of a disjuncture in the cultures of a disadvantaged (and only relatively recently enfranchised) minority population and a proportionally large, wealthy dominant immigrant population, problematic social policies and the legacy of colonialism. Developing effective health promotion interventions in this environment is a challenge. Taking an ecological approach, the objective of this study was to identify the key social, economic, cultural and environmental factors that contribute to poor hygiene in remote Aboriginal communities, and to determine approaches that will improve hygiene and reduce the burden of infection among children. The methods included a mix of quantitative and qualitative community-based studies and literature reviews. Study findings showed that a combination of crowding, non-functioning health hardware and poor standards of personal and domestic hygiene underlie the high burden of infection experienced by children. Also, models of health promotion drawn from developed and developing countries can be adapted for use in remote Australian Aboriginal community contexts. High levels of disadvantage in relation to social determinants of health underlie the problem of poor environmental conditions and poor child health in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. Measures need to be taken to address the immediate problems that impact on children's health-for example, by ensuring the availability of functional and adequate water and sanitation facilities-but these interventions are unlikely to have a major effect unless the underlying issues are also addressed.

Bug Breakfast in theBulletin: Waterborne diseases among Aboriginal people

Aboriginal people in many communities in New South Wales have, until now, not enjoyed the same access to water and sewerage services as the rest of the NSW population. Evidence from international studies shows that lack of these services leads to poorer health. Adequate quality and quantity of water are essential for drinking, food preparation and cooking, washing, waste removal, cultivation and recreation and, therefore, for health. A study of the global burden of disease found that poor water supply, sanitation, personal and domestic hygiene were responsible for 5.3% of total deaths and 6.8% of total disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 1990. There are a number of communicable diseases that result from poor water quality and quantity and they can be classified according to transmission route.

Behavioural and environmental determinants of childhood diarrhoea in Chikwawa, Malawi

The Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative (SCHI) is carrying out health interventions aimed at achieving measurable results in major causes of disease and death in four villages in Chikwawa, a southern district inMalawi.A baseline survey was carried out in July 2006 in which, among other areas of interest, diarrhoea risks, water sources and use, sanitation and hygiene practices were investigated. This paper analyses domestic water sources, sanitation, and hygiene practice and their impact on child diarrhoea. 97% of the households reported having access to improved water supply surpassing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 70% by 2015. In contrast, only 48% reported having access to improved sanitation thus lagging behind the MDGs targets of 74% by 2015. A Bayesian logistic regression analysis showed that children from households with no toilet facilities were more likely to have suffered from diarrhoea than those who own such facilities (odds ratio (OR):1.72, 95% CI: 1.18, 2.51). On the other hand children from households that use private taps were less likely to have suffered diarrhoea than those that use public taps (OR = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.32). Those where each member uses own basin (OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.70) or running water on a tap (OR = 0.10, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.53) for washing hands were less likely to have suffered diarrhoea than those that use cups to pour water from containers.

A case study of physical and social barriers to hygiene and child growth in remote Australian Aboriginal communities

BackgroundDespite Australia's wealth, poor growth is common among Aboriginal children living in remote communities. An important underlying factor for poor growth is the unhygienic state of the living environment in these communities. This study explores the physical and social barriers to achieving safe levels of hygiene for these children.MethodsA mixed qualitative and quantitative approach included a community level cross-sectional housing infrastructure survey, focus groups, case studies and key informant interviews in one community.ResultsWe found that a combination of crowding, non-functioning essential housing infrastructure and poor standards of personal and domestic hygiene underlie the high burden of infection experienced by children in this remote community.ConclusionThere is a need to address policy and the management of infrastructure, as well as key parenting and childcare practices that allow the high burden of infection among children to persist. The common characteristics of many remote Aboriginal communities in Australia suggest that these findings may be more widely applicable.

Co-contamination of Aflatoxins with Ochratoxin A and Zearalenone in Thuja orientalis Semen.

Korea is representative of a country that consumes herbal medicines; most of the herbal medicines circulating in South Korea have been imported from developing countries in Southeast Asia, such as China and Indonesia. Recently, domestic hygiene and safety are issues that have come to the forefront, because herbal medicines currently in circulation could possibly contain contaminants or residues. Furthermore, the appearance or discovery of harmful new species due to environmental and industrial developments is becoming a social problem. Therefore, it may be necessary to consider and investigate these matters on a continual basis. Recently, mycotoxin contaminations in such foods as cereals, nuts, and powdered red pepper have been reported. They have become a problematic issue; the possibility of contamination in herbal medicines has also been considered. Nevertheless, recognition of and research into mycotoxin contamination in herbal medicines has been scarce because herbal medicine is used in only a few nations. In this research, we identified contamination by aflatoxin which is known to be the most potent mutagenic, carcinogenic, and teratoge-nic mycotoxin in Thujae Semen, a herbal medicine. We also found co-contaminations involving other mycotoxins, including ochratoxin A and zeraleanone.