Water parasite leaves hundreds hospitalised

A parasite in the water supply of a village 70km north of Amman has given hundreds of people severe diarrhoea and high fever, requiring them to be hospitalised.

Over the past 11 days, at least 800 residents of Bani Hassan village, near Mafraq, including children and the elderly, have been taken to hospital for treatment against the highly resistant parasite, according to medical sources in Amman.

The disease is not fatal but causes unpleasant diarrhoea lasting up to two weeks.

The parasite, Cryptosporidium, which was first discovered in the late 1970s, infects humans and a wide range of domestic and wild animals, according to a report produced jointly by the Royal Scientific Society, the Jordan University for Science and Technology, and the Amman-based World Health Organization (WHO) Centre for Environmental Health Activities.

The report, released on 24 July, did not say how the parasite got into the village’s water supply system.

Some say the aging water supply system was a fertile breeding ground for the parasite. Others blame farmers who tap into the pipelines to divert water to give to their cattle.

Residents of the desert village blame the water network. For the past few years they have been urging the government to repair their water network after noticing leaks and a build-up of rust on the pipes.

“We sent several letters over the past three years to the government urging it to renew the water network… But we were told to wait because of a lack of financial resources,” said Fayez Shdeifat, a member of parliament from Mafraq.

Very resistant

Minister of Health Saad Kharabsheh told reporters on 24 July that the waterborne parasite was very resistant to traditional water treatment methods such as chlorine. He advised residents to boil water before using it.

Cryptosporidium facts
	Cryptosporidium needs a living host to grow and remains inactive in the environment.
	The most common symptom of cryptosporidiosis is profuse and watery diarrhoea. Other signs and symptoms include weight loss, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and low-grade fever.
	Symptoms often present sporadically, but disappear in less than 30 days.
	The parasite infects humans, cattle, and domestic animals. It can be killed by heat or removed by filtration. The most common mode of transmission is from person to person. Persons become infected through hand-to-mouth contact.
	The parasite may occur in contaminated water, such as streams or lakes that are open to contamination by human and animal faeces, or in food contaminated by animal faeces.

The minister said no fatalities occurred as a result of the epidemic but residents of Bani Hassan say tens of people remain hospitalised or bed-ridden in their homes.
The government vowed to begin replacing the ageing water network within two weeks. In the meantime, residents are relying on trucks to bring water from nearby villages.

Residents of nearby villages themselves fear the parasite could find its way into their water supplies. Government spokesman Nasser Judeh said three water experts had been dispatched to the area to conduct regular tests on water supplies “as a precautionary measure”.

Judeh added that the government would use ultraviolet sterilisers on water sources in the area.

Officials from the Water Ministry say the cost of renewing Jordan’s water network is very high. Currently it is believed almost half of the country’s piped water is lost to leakages.

mbh/ar/cb