Friday, February 17, 2012

Blog #5 Study: High population density is greatest risk factor for water-linked diseases


There are a countless number of risk factors that contribute to the prevalence of water-linked diseases in the world. One of the greatest of those risk factors includes a high population density. There are five known different categories of water-associated diseases.  For different categories of diseases recorded the impacts of certain factors vary. According to the article, studies have shown that Western Europe, Central Africa, Northern India and Southeast Asia are amongst the regions that are the most prone to report cases of outbreaks ranging from E. coli-related diarrhea to dengue fever. Ohio State University scientists have managed to come up with a database with a model that has the ability to predict risks for water-associated disease outbreaks in almost anywhere in the entire world. This is one really big step toward the progression of putting a halt to the outbreak of the diseases. World health experts have also managed to take the initiative into realizing the steps that actually need to be taken and put into action to stop this issue. Some of those risks included being able to get a better handle on the socio-environmental factors that affect the risk for the outbreaks, and providing an early warning to places undergoing global environmental changes. This is such a prevalent issue because clean water is one of the most vital essentials to sustain quality life. All humans need water everywhere all throughout the entire world. Because it is so essential to life it has the ability to carry many hazards that can defectively affect our health. With a greater and denser population because of all of the many people and incalculable amount of germs we all carry it makes the water more susceptible to being infected. I agree that the steps the World Health experts stated to put in motion are definitely very important methods into helping notify the public of this issue, and possibly helping to dramatically decrease the prevalence of the issue of water-linked diseases as well.


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