Comparison of the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases in two regions of the Aral Sea area, Uzbekistan

To investigate difference3 111 the occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases in two rcgions affected by the Aral Sea disaster and with difficult drinking water conditions, crude incidence rates and microbial water quality \yere compared.In the more developed urban areas of I<horezm and Karalialpakstan, centralized drinking water supply is available.Residents of rural areas predominantly use ground water for drinking water purposes.Whereas microbial drinking water quality In Klmrezm is still deterioratmg it seems to be improving m I<aral<alpakstan.The m~crobial quality of the drinking water in Khorezm has detenorated most notably between 1999 and 2001 During this period up to 61.8 % of the samples exceed the critical Iilnit for the Total Microbial Co~lnt (TMC) and even more than 80 % the critical limit for the parameter coli index, which proves faecal contamination.Incidence rates for all diarrhoea1 diseases as well as hepatitis A are declining substantially over the last decade.Given the fact that both rcgions are known to have serious drinking water problems, these tendencies are questionable Espccially in rural areas these changea are more likely to be underreporting due to the worsening socio-economic situation, than changing d~sease occurrences.

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