Feature: Sewage exposure, dangerous to health

Sewage is the accumulation of human wastes such as feces and urine. From this definition of sewage, we know what sewage is and where it comes from. Sewage can cause health risks to people. It is well-known that Because of its characteristic, it is indeed true enough that it has various pathogens and allergens that can be very harmful to people’s health. Parasitic agents such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium can cause chronic intestinal illnesses in children and adults. Bacterial pathogens abound in places with sewage damage can consist of strains of gram-negative organisms like Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli. Apart from the strains of gram-negative bacteria, gram-negative bacteria also produce toxins in the body which occur at the point of cell’s death. Germs that produce toxic products in the body (Endotoxins) can manifest in the air through remediation, take for example the cleaning and drying of infected carpets. Public health risks can also be incurred through improper sewage damage disposal and transport from hospitals and other industrial companies. These could leaf to public health’s declining status due to unscrupulous manner of managing their wastes. However, workers from sewage damage remediation and other sewage related activities are not free from health risks. They are prone to infectious illnesses due to exposure to certain chemicals, allergens, toxic gases, fumes, vapours and endotoxins as well as mycotovins and other infectious agents. There are several diseases that are brought by sewage exposure to the environment. They are transmitted by germs that are found in sewage wastes. Being exposed to sewage or its products could result in a number of diseases that are discussed below. Allergic Alveolitis is one of the diseases people can suffer from exposure to sewage. This inflammation of the alveoli in the lungs is seldom reported with relation to sewage backup. However, when reported its symptoms include fever, breathlessness, dry cough, and aching muscles and joints. Gastroenteritis; this is the inflammation of the stomach and intestines. When irritation is excessive, symptoms of gastroenteritis can include diarrhea with vomiting and cramps, and is often associated with fever when caused by an infectious agent. Hepatitis; means inflammation of the liver and caused by a virus known as viral hepatitis. When Hepatitis is an outcome of sewage backup, it is often characterized by jaundice and inflammation of the liver. Weil’s disease; an acute feverish disease with symptoms of gastroenteritis, mild jaundice, persistent and severe headache. Occupational asthma; a respiratory disorder, occupational asthma shows symptoms of attacks of breathlessness, chest tightness, and wheezing. Additional health dangers include fatal liver, kidney, blood damage, and skin or eye infection. There are three common ways for micro-organisms to penetrate the human body. For example, Hand to mouth is the most common way to spread disease and occurs during eating, drinking and smoking. Contaminated organisms could easily enter the body as we breath particles or contaminated dust from the air. Skin contact with contaminated organisms occurs through cuts, scratches, penetrating wounds, and can enter the body through the surfaces of the eyes, nose and mouth. It is therefore very important to keep people safe from sewage pollutions. Water is the most dangerous source of which people suffer from sewage pollutions.Water is polluted when it constitutes a health hazard and when its usefulness is impaired. The major sources of water pollution iclude sewage pollution that forms a greater part of the man’s activity and it is the immediate need of even smaller communities of today to combat sewage pollution. It is needless to stress that if an economic balance of the many varied services which a body of water is called upon to render is balanced and taken into consideration one could think of ending up in a wise management programme. In order to eliminate the existing water pollutional levels of the natural water one has to think of preventive and treatment methods. Of the various methods of sewage treatment known today, in most of developing countries the waste stabilization water sources should be highly focussed. A waste stabilization pond makes use of natural purification processes involved in an ecosystem through the regulating of such processes. The term waste stabilization pond in its simplest form is applied to a body of water, artificial or natural, employed with the intention of retaining sewage and organic waste waters until the wastes are rendered stable and inoffensive for discharge into receiving waters and on land, through physical, chemical and biological processes commonly referred to as self-purification. Ends