Use, Acceptability, Performance, and Health Impact of Hollow Fiber Ultrafilters for Water Treatment in Rural Kenyan Households, 2009-2011.

Use, Acceptability, Performance, and Health Impact of Hollow Fiber Ultrafilters for Water Treatment in Rural Kenyan Households, 2009-2011. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Apr 06;: Authors: Fagerli K, Gieraltowski L, Nygren B, Foote E, Gaines J, Oremo J, Odhiambo A, Kim S, Quick R Abstract Diarrheal illness remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children < 5 years in developing countries, and contaminated water contributes to diarrhea risk. To address this problem, a novel hollow fiber ultrafilter (HFU) was developed for household water treatment. To test its impact on water quality and infant health, we conducted a cluster-randomized longitudinal evaluation in 10 intervention and 10 comparison villages in Kenya, attempting to enroll all households with infants (< 12 months old). We conducted a baseline survey, distributed HFUs to intervention households, made biweekly home visits for 1 year to assess water treatment practices and diarrhea in infants, and tested water samples from both groups every 2 months for Escherichia coli. We enrolled 92 infants from intervention households and 74 from comparison households. During the 1-year study period, 45.7% of intervention households and 97.3% of comparison households had at least one stored water sample test positive for E. coli. Compared with comparison households, the odds of E. coli contamination in stored water was lower for intervention households (OR: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.24,...
Source: Am J Trop Med Hyg - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Am J Trop Med Hyg Source Type: research