Focus on 14 sewage treatment plants in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa in order to gauge the efficiency of wastewater treatment

PKIn order to identify the treatment methods used in different sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the Mpumalanga Province and to determine the efficiency of wastewater treatment by these plants, municipal STPs were surveyed, and raw and treated wastewater samples collected. A total of 14 STPs were visited and the collected samples were analysed for physicochemical and microbiological parameters using standard methods. The treatment methods identified included ponds, activated sludge and trickling filters. The reduction of turbidity by the plants varied between 6.2 and 99.6% while conductivity, pH and temperature varied slightly between the influent and the effluent wastewater. Thirteen (92.8%) of the plants used chlorine for disinfection of the final effluent, however only 2 (14.2%) of the plants managed to produce effluent with 0 (zero) faecal conforms per 100 m€. Common pathogenic bacteria isolated from the final effluent included Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia coli, Vibrio spp. and Enterococcus spp. The final effluent was used for irrigation and recycling purposes in 4 plants, all the other treatment plants discharged the effluent into the river or to the environment. The present study indicated that there is a move toward the renovation of wastewater treatment by the municipalities in the Mpumalanga Province with the adoption of biological treatment. All the STPs reduced the turbidity of wastewater as well as the different microbial indicators counts; however, several pathogenic bacterial organisms could still be detected in the final effluent. Further studies are needed to confirm the role of the treatment procedures on nutrient reduction and elimination of other viral and parasitic pathogens by the sewage treatment plants

Comparison of the health related quality of life, CD4 count and viral load of AIDS patients with HIV who have been on treatment for 12 months in rural South Africa

PKThis study compared the level of CD4 count, viral load and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between treatment-naive AIDS patients and a cohort of people living with HIV who have been on treatment for 12 months. This study is based on a secondary data analysis of the records of 642 people with HIV consisting of 311 treatment-naive AIDS patients and 331 people with HIV who have been on treatment for 12 months. The study findings are mostly presented in tables and analysed using the f-test to compare HRQOL scores, CD4 count and viral load in the two groups. The study generally noted poor financial capacity and low activity tolerance among the participants. Significant changes were noted in all the domains of HRQOL compared between the treatment-naive patients and the 12 months treatment cohort. In the same manner, the median CD4 cell count and viral load differed significantly between both groups. The treatment-naive and the 12 months treatment cohorts consistently reported much lower quality of life scores in the level of dependence domain which includes the measures of mobility, activity of daily living, dependence on medication and work capacity. There were little or no associations between the biomedical markers (CD4 count and viral load) and HRQOL indicators. However, the quality of life tended to increase with increase in the CD4 cell count. The poor to no association between the biomedical markers and HRQOL indicators show that these cannot be direct proxies of each other and that the CD4 cell count and viral load alone may be inadequate eligibility criteria for social support