Enteric Pathogens in Stored Drinking Water and on Caregiver's Hands in Tanzanian Households with and without Reported Cases of Child Diarrhea.

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of mortality in young children. Diarrheal pathogens are transmitted via the fecal-oral route, and for children the majority of this transmission is thought to occur within the home. However, very few studies have documented enteric pathogens within households of low-income countries. The presence of molecular markers for three enteric viruses (enterovirus, adenovirus, and rotavirus), seven Escherichia coli virulence genes (ECVG), and human-specific Bacteroidales was assessed in hand rinses and household stored drinking water in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. Using a matched case-control study design, we examined the relationship between contamination of hands and water with these markers and child diarrhea. We found that the presence of ECVG in household stored water was associated with a significant decrease in the odds of a child within the home having diarrhea (OR = 0.51; 95% confidence interval 0.27-0.93). We also evaluated water management and hygiene behaviors. Recent hand contact with water or food was positively associated with detection of enteric pathogen markers on hands, as was relatively lower volumes of water reportedly used for daily hand washing. Enteropathogen markers in stored drinking water were more likely found among households in which the markers were also detected on hands, as well as in households with unimproved water supply and sanitation infrastructure. The prevalence of enteric pathogen genes and the human-specific Bacteroidales fecal marker in stored water and on hands suggests extensive environmental contamination within homes both with and without reported child diarrhea. Better stored water quality among households with diarrhea indicates caregivers with sick children may be more likely to ensure safe drinking water in the home. Interventions to increase the quantity of water available for hand washing, and to improve food hygiene, may reduce exposure to enteric pathogens in the domestic environment

Issues of sexuality and relationships

Sexuality in the lives of people with intellectual disability is almost always conflated with sexual abuse, sexual behaviours, sexual knowledge and questions about capacity to “be” sexual. Rarely is sexuality discussed in a more holistic way that acknowledges pleasure, desire, identity and “self-authored” sexual expression. Writers like Michael Gill (2015) suggested this is due to sexual ableism which he defined as “the system of imbuing sexuality with determinations of qualification to be sexual based on criteria of ability, intellect, morality, physicality, appearance …” (p. 3). Through this lens, sexuality in the lives of people with intellectual disability is mediated by ideas about capacity and competence, assumptions of desirability and overshadowed by a discourse of risk and vulnerability. Foley (2017) reported that underpinning this discourse is a “paternalistic regime” whereby the sexual lives of people with intellectual disability are strongly surveilled, often by parents or other caregivers. He described this regime as being played out where people with intellectual disability, despite their chronological adulthood, “either must ask permission and/or are prevented by their parents from taking control over their social/sexual lives” (p. 6)

Pathogen and Nutrient Transfer Through and Across Agricultural Soils

Human activity can place heavy stress on agricultural soils across the world. Soil systems are continually manipulated in order to support the increase in crop yields and accommodate more intensive livestock production and thus provide the planet’s ever-growing population with a diverse array of ecosystem services, among which food production features highly. The recycling of livestock manures to land provides a sustainable solution to support the ecosystem services that soils provide and a host of benefits both in terms of improving soil structure and also soil fertility. However, livestock manures and feces may contain a high number of fecal microorganisms that pose a threat to human well-being and potentially large concentrations of nutrients harmful to the ecology of freshwater systems that the soils often buffer