McGuigan K.G., Samaiyar P., Du Preez M., Conroy R.M.
Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; CARE International in Cambodia (CIC), House 52 Street 352, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Natural Resources and the Environment, CSIR, P.O. Box 395, Pretoria, South Africa; Division of Population Health Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
McGuigan, K.G., Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Samaiyar, P., CARE International in Cambodia (CIC), House 52 Street 352, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Du Preez, M., Natural Resources and the Environment, CSIR, P.O. Box 395, Pretoria, South Africa; Conroy, R.M., Division of Population Health Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
Recent solar disinfection (SODIS) studies in Bolivia and South Africa have reported compliance rates below 35% resulting in no overall statistically significant benefit associated with disease rates. In this study, we report the results of a 1 year randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of SODIS of drinking water on the incidence of dysentery and nondysentery diarrhea among children of age 6 months to 5 years living in rural communities in Cambodia. We compared 426 children in 375 households using SODIS with 502 children in 407 households with no intervention. Study compliance was greater than 90% with only 5% of children having less than 10 months of follow-up and 2.3% having less than 6 months. Adjusted for water source type, children in the SODIS group had a reduced incidence of dysentery, with an incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 0.50 (95% CI 0.27-0.93, p = 0.029). SODIS also had a protective effect against nondysentery diarrhea, with an IRR of 0.37 (95% CI 0.29-0.48, p < 0.001). This study suggests strongly that SODIS is an effective and culturally acceptable point-of-use water treatment method in the culture of rural Cambodia and may be of benefit among similar communities in neighboring South East Asian countries. © 2011 American Chemical Society.
Cambodia; East Asian countries; Field trial; Incidence rate; Point-of-use; Protective effects; Randomized controlled trial; Rural community; Solar disinfection; South Africa; Treatment methods; Water source; Disinfection; Water treatment; Potable water; drinking water; child health; compliance; diarrheal disease; disinfection; drinking water; rural area; solar power; water treatment; article; Cambodia; child; childhood disease; comparative study; controlled study; diarrhea; disinfection; dysentery; follow up; human; incidence; infant; major clinical study; preschool child; randomized controlled trial; randomized controlled trial (topic); solar disinfection; water supply; Cambodia; Child, Preschool; Colony Count, Microbial; Cooperative Behavior; Diarrhea; Disinfection; Drinking Water; Dysentery; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Incidence; Infant; Rural Population; Sunlight; Water Purification; Bolivia; Cambodia; South Africa
