April 14, 2009

Contact:
Jeremy Craig, 404-413-1357
University Relations

Researcher finds health improvements with use of water filters in developing countries

ATLANTA –A Georgia State University professor has found that a type of water filter helps to significantly reduce the odds of waterborne diarrheal disease in developing countries by improving water quality.

Christine Stauber, assistant professor at Georgia State’s Institute of Public Health, and her colleagues researched the effectiveness of biosand filters, which use sand to help filter microbial contaminants, in a randomized control trial.

Studying households in Bonao, Dominican Republic, Stauber and her colleagues noted a 47 percent reduction in the incidence of diarrheal disease in households which used the filter compared to those which didn’t.

Stauber, with the assistance of Dr. Gloria Ortiz, M.D. and a field survey team, surveyed households in two communities within Bonao — one semi-rural community called Jayaco, and an urban community called Brisas del Yuna.

Households in the communities used a biosand filter with a concrete housing to decontaminate water, and water quality from the homes was tested through testing concentrations of E.coli, which is an indicator of fecal contamination of water. Researchers found that biosand filters reduced the concentration of E.coli, and participants of all ages experienced reduced rates of diarrheal disease.

Reducing the burden of waterborne diseases is a global public health concern, as 1.6 million people — mostly children under age 5 — die annually from diarrheal disease. Diarrheal disease also affects children’s growth and development.

“It is a significant problem, but there are clear interventions for it,” Stauber said. Improving water supply infrastructure is one part of the solution, as are interventions at the household level — using methods like the biosand filter, as well as chlorine disinfection and solar disinfection, where water is heated in the sun to kill off microbes.

Non-governmental organizations like Rotary International, which helped to fund Stauber’s work, have put forth efforts to purchase and distribute biosand filters in developing countries like the Dominican Republic, where almost 10,000 filters have been installed since 2000.

Stauber, who teaches environmental health at Georgia State, is continuing her work in the Dominican Republic, and will assist this summer in training personnel at a laboratory at the country’s Superior Institute of Agriculture in Santiago, Dominican Repbulic (Instituto Superior de Agricultura) to help monitor water quality.

Stauber’s research appears in the February 2009 edition of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.