Medizinische Universität Graz Austria/Österreich - Forschungsportal - Medical University of Graz
Gewählte Publikation:
Dicker, I.
Water Quality in Developing Countries with Special Attention to the Water Supplies of a Peripheral Hospital in Kakkaveri, Tamil Nadu, Southern India
Humanmedizin; [ Diplomarbeit ] Medical University of Graz; 2019. pp. 67
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- Autor*innen der Med Uni Graz:
- Betreuer*innen:
- Grisold Andrea
- Schöpfer Andreas
- Altmetrics:
- Abstract:
- Background: Water is essential for health. Drinking water for human consumption, therefore, needs to meet certain quality standards. This diploma thesis presents the drinking water situation in developing countries exemplarily with a survey of the water situation of Kakkaveri hospital in rural southern India. Furthermore, it gives an overview over the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and takes in the drinking water standards of Austria and India. This thesis was written within the framework of a cooperation of the Department for Global Health and Development (GHD) at the Medical University of Graz and the Doctor Typhagne Memorial Charitable (DTMC) Trust. High quality drinking water can only be granted if there are regular verifications of the quality. Analyses at water laboratories on the one hand are partly expensive and on the other hand not unlimited accessible in rural regions of developing countries. Therefore, other methods to survey the water quality need to be determined. Methods: In this thesis, a point-of-care-testing-system as a decentralized diagnostic method (3M™ Petrifilm™ E. coli and Coliform Count Plate) and the results from a water laboratory were compared. For this purpose, 15 water samples (from different locations at Kakkaveri hospital) were collected in November 2017. Every sample underwent the point-of-care-testing, a physical-chemical and a bacteriological analysis. A comparison of the results was conducted. With an easy to use point-of-care-testing-system that provides measurements with a comparable reliability as a laboratory, but at lower costs, an alternative surveillance system can be implemented. Results and conclusion: The applied point-of-care-testing-system was incubated at 37° and 29° Celsius (room temperature). Taking into account, that the point-of-care-testing (Petrifilm™) needs inoculation with 1 ml sampling volume (rather than 100 ml for laboratory analysis) the results matched in 66.6 % (4/6; 37°C) and 50.0% (3/6; 29°C) of the cases only. The bacteriological analysis in general showed bacterial contamination in 100 % of the samples (15/15). The chemical analysis did not show any health concerns. Even if the access to microbiological laboratories is limited, the applied point-of-care-testing-system in this study could not replace the routine screening.