Iranian Association of Environmental Health (IAEH)
Abstract
There is a direct relation between the prevalence of some parasitic
diseases and the presence of those etiologic agents in water. The
purpose of this research was to determine the contamination rate of
wells drinking water to parasites in Mazandaran province in the north
of Iran. 989 water samples were randomly taken based on the population
of towns and number of health centers from 12 cities of Mazandaran
province and transferred to the laboratory in sterile containers. Water
samples were then filtered and analyzed according to the World Health
Organization guidelines. Direct method and Gram staining procedure were
used to identify the parasites. If cryptosporidium was seen, floatation
(sheather's sugar) and modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining method were
performed. Parasites count was undertaken using McMaster counting slide
(0.3 mL). 197 out of 989 water samples were contaminated with different
parasites. From 197 contaminated samples, 20 different types of
parasites were separated of which 53 (26.9%) were pathogenic, 100
(50.8%) non pathogenic, and 44 non-infective stages of parasites.
Distance between wells and sources of contamination, type of water
distribution systems, city and chlorination status had significantly
statistical relationship with contamination prevalence (p<0.001).
According to the results and considering the direct correlation between
safe water and human health, proper implementation of providing
hygienic drinking water should be enforced
