Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Elena Naumova spoke yesterday about enteric infections and water safety in southern India, as part of the Environmental Studies Lunch and Learn Program.
Naumova, who is also an associate dean for research in the School of Engineering, spoke about her current interest in waterborne illnesses, which she said began after her experience with the 1993 outbreak of cryptosporidiosis, a parasitic disease that affects the intestines, in Milwaukee. In analyzing this outbreak, Naumova realized that the study of waterborne infection was similar to her previous study of the paths of satellites over Siberia.
"Using mathematical tools for understanding a waterborne outbreak was basically very similar to what I did in the past," she said. "You trace an outbreak the same way you trace the behavior of an unusual object in 3-D space."
Naumova explained that, unlike other diseases, waterborne illnesses are extremely dependent on man-made conditions. While there are differences in infection rates between developed and third-world conditions, Naumova said that the general characteristics of waterborne diseases do not vary.
"If I were to show this data [from Milwaukee] in India, it would be laughable," she said. "The rate of infections experienced in the developing world is dramatically different, but the patterns are similar."
Naumova also spoke about a recent study of waterborne diseases in southern India carried out by students at the Tufts Medical School. She explained that the study, which was conducted in the Vellore district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, identified environmental risk factors associated with diarrhea and showed a difference between rural and urban infection rates.
"We usually think rural is the place where you would have more infections [and] urban has less infections," she said. "In reality it is the reverse ... urban [indicates] urban slums, where you basically have an even worse supply of water and an even worse supply of sanitation facilities [compared to rural areas]."
According to Naumova, the study indicated that an improvement in water quality is necessary in order to cut down on the incidence of waterborne illnesses.
"If I can improve water quality by reducing the number of coli form [bacteria] ... I have a high probability of reducing diseases by 20 percent," she said.
Another element of the study examined the role of flies in the transmission of enteric diseases. Naumova explained that the researchers gathered extensive data on the fly population present in people's homes, and discovered that the flies were carrying a norovirus - something that flies had not been known to do previously.
While contact with flies and unclean water can increase the risk of enteric disease, other factors which increased infection rates include the disposal of trash in pits around the house and the use of firewood as fuel, according to Naumova. The use of indoor latrines and the absence of animals, however, reduced infection risk, she said.
Naumova concluded her lecture by explaining the importance of statistics in reducing infectious disease outbreaks.
"For policymakers, understanding the basic statistics is so important because quite often people dump numbers on you and say 'trust me, I am a doctor, I know what I am talking about,'" she said. "However, it is more important to know how this data comes to life ... [and] even more importantly, what to do with [the data] next."
She said that after studies are completed, they should be used to implement change.
"I want you to move from just dreaming about a fantastic study, from getting the information, running the conclusion, to then completing the loop and making the next step," she said.
