WATER DROPLETS FROM THE LAB

FACTS ABOUT WATER

Giardiasis

Identification - A protozoan infection principally of the upper small intestine; while usually asymptomatic, it may occasionally be associated with a variety of intestinal symptoms, such as chronic diarrhea, abdominal cramps, bloating, frequent loose and pale greasy stools, fatigue and weight loss.

Infectious agent - Giardia lamblia, a flagellate protozoan

Occurrence - Worldwide. Children are infected more frequently than adults. Prevalence is higher in areas of poor sanitation and in institutions and day care centers. Waterborne outbreaks in the USA occur most often in, mountain communities and those that derive drinking water from streams or rivers without a water filtration system.

Reservoir - man; possibly beaver and other wild and domestic animals. Cysts from human sources are more infectious to man than those from animals.

Mode of transmission - Person to person transmission occurs by hand to mouth transfer of cysts from the feces of an infected individual, especially in institutions and day care centers. Unfiltered stream and lake waters that are open to contamination by human and animal feces are a frequent source of infection.

1.  Preventative measures - Educate families; personnel and inmates of institutions, and especially adult personnel of day care centers, in personal hygiene and the need for hand washing before eating and after toilet use.

2.  Filter public water supplies that are at risk of human animal fecal contamination.

3.  Protect public water supplies against contamination with human and animal feces.

4.  Dispose of feces in a sanitary manner.

5.  Boil emergency water supplies.

giardia.doc compiled by: JRT - sources: Center for Disease Control, HRS Office of Entomology, American Public Health Assn./, DEP

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