Influence of quality of water to incidence of enterocolitis and hepatitis A in the area of Travnik municipality

Aim To determine the bacteriological and physical-chemical quality of drinking water in the area of Travnik municipality within the period 1999-2008, as well as the possible correlation of bacteriological quality of drinking water and incidence of enterocolitis and hepatitis A in entire population.Methods Using the laboratory Protocol, all water samples analyzed for bacteriological and physical-chemical quality within the period 01.01.1999 - 31.12.2008 were retrospectively analyzed by observation-descriptive methods. Drinking water from two central water-supply pipelines which supply around 20.000 people of Travnik municipality and the results of occasional testing of local drinking water springs were analyzed. Results During a ten-year period of monitoring, 135 samples from the local water supply facilities were taken, 50 (37%) of which were found unhygienic. The number of unhygienic water samples from the town water supply system was 106 (39.1%) in 1999, and 20 (7.16%) in 2008. The most common reason for the improper quality of drinking water was the presence of E. coli, in 473 (65.2%), Streptococcus faecalis in 249 (34.3%), and Proteus spp. in three (0.04%) samples. One sample out of 104 did not meet quality standards of physical-chemical water analysis. The number of hepatitis A cases and patients with enterocolitis was 79 and 1742, affecting mostly younger age groups, 70 (89%) and 1279 (90%) cases, respectively.Conclusion: Based on the results of the ten year period the occurrence of hepatitis A has shown the correlation with bacteriological quality of water, but no correlation was noted for enterocolitis, implying that other factors apart from water quality might be involved in occurrence of enterocolitis.