Food and waterborne diarrheal disease

One of the major diseases in the developing countries public health is diarrheal disease that still nowadays, despite the important advances of world society, it remains a persistent concern. Diarrheal disease is caused by the exposure to a serial of pathogens present in the water and food. The transmission of this disease is basically due to sudden seasonal variations suchextreme precipitation and rainfall and high air and water temperatures. The section of the population most affected by the symptoms of diarrhoea are children and the elderly and, more generally, all those subject to the use of inadequately treated groundwater.
Even if patterns differ by place and pathogen, generally speaking, high temperatures create the best conditions for the spread of diarrhoeal diseases, especially salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis. It has been proved that diarrheal diseases outbreaks are preceded, especially, when stream flow increases because of rapid snowmelt.
In poorer countries without adequate sewage systems most childhood gastrointestinal diseases are due to heavy rainfall, in fact, due to those, an increase of almost 30% in gastrointestinal diseases is associated with overflowing sewage (with high concentrations of Giardia, Cryptosporidium and Campylobacter). Due to increasing climate change water-borne diseases will spread even further in the future and in some regions such as the Great Lakes region in the United States climate models have already predicted an increase from 50% to 120% in overflow events by 2100.
An analysis concerning the water-borne diseases that occurred worldwide from 1910 to 2010 showed an association between flooding and heavy rainfall with the spread of water-borne diseases. Only better stormwater and sewage management infrastructure through careful urban design can reduce the risk of waterborne diseases and, of course, also the implementation in the surveillance and maintenance can help in reducing many risks related to climate-sensitive infectious diseases.