Prevention of bacterial diarrhea by pasteurization of drinking water in Kenya

Diarrheal disease is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Drinking water is a primary transmission route of infectious diarrheagenic bacteria in a rural area of Kenya (Microbiol. Immunol. 41: 773-778, 1997). We tried to prevent diarrhea at villages with approximately 1,500 households in Kenya by pasteurizing drinking water. A durable simple thermoindicator which changes color at 70 C was used as an indicator of pasteurization. The number of households in which drinking water was coliform bacteria-free increased from 10.7% to 43.1% after adoption of a pasteurization practice. Consequently, the incidence of severe diarrhea among people drinking pasteurized water was significantly lower than in people taking raw water (odds ratio=0.55, P=0.0016). The reduction ratio of the incidence after pasteurization was nearly equivalent with that after the adoption of a boiling method. Employment of women leaders as fieldworkers and demonstration of bacterial colony disappearance on agar plates by pasteurization also affected reduction of the diarrheal incidence.