title: Boiling as household water treatment in Cambodia: a longitudinal study of boiling practice and microbiological effectiveness.
abstract: This paper focuses on the consistency of use and microbiological effectiveness of boiling as it is practiced in one study site in peri-urban Cambodia. We followed 60 randomly selected households in Kandal Province over 6 months to collect longitudinal data on water boiling practices and effectiveness in reducing Escherichia coli in household drinking water. Despite > 90% of households reporting that they used boiling as a means of drinking water treatment, an average of only 31% of households had boiled water on hand at follow-up visits, suggesting that actual use may be lower than self-reported use. We collected 369 matched untreated and boiled water samples. Mean reduction of E. coli was 98.5%; 162 samples (44%) of boiled samples were free of E. coli (< 1 colony-forming unit [cfu]/100 mL), and 270 samples (73%) had < 10 cfu/100 mL. Storing boiled water in a covered container was associated with safer product water than storage in an uncovered container.
authors: Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London, UK. joe.brown@lshtm.ac.uk
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Brown
authors: Mark D
authors: MD
authors: Sobsey
mesh_terms: D002160:Cambodia; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000382:microbiology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D013234:Stem Cells; D014505:Urban Population; D014871:Water Microbiology; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water