title: Reducing diarrhea through the use of household-based ceramic water filters: a randomized, controlled trial in rural Bolivia.
abstract: Ceramic water filters have been identified as one of the most promising and accessible technologies for treating water at the household level. In a six-month trial, water filters were distributed randomly to half of the 50 participating households in a rural community in Bolivia; the remaining households continued to use customary water handling practices and served as controls. In four rounds of sampling following distribution of the filters, 100% of the 96 water samples from the filter households were free of thermotolerant coliforms compared with 15.5% of the control household samples. Diarrheal disease risk for individuals in intervention households was 70% lower than for controls (95% confidence interval [CI] = 53-80%; P < 0.001). For children less than five years old, the reduction in risk was 83% (95% CI = 51-94%; P < 0.001). These results show that affordable ceramic water filters enable low-income households to treat and maintain the microbiologic quality of their drinking water.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom. thomas.clasen@lshtm.ac.uk
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Clasen
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Collin
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Suntura
authors.forename: Sandy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cairncross
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001838:Bolivia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002516:Ceramics; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004756:Enterobacteriaceae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000382:microbiology; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D014881:Water Supply