This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
Researchers have discovered a simple answer to a huge problem indeveloping countries. They have found that cholera and other deadlyorganisms can be removed from drinking water with simple clothfilters. Pouring water from rivers or lakes through severalthicknesses of cloth can trap tiny organisms that contain thecholera bacteria.
Researchers discovered this fact during a three-year study inBangladesh. American and Bangladeshi scientists went to sixty-fivesmall villages in a country where cholera is a major health problem.They tested the use of saris as cloth filters. A sari is thetraditional clothing worn by most women in Bangladesh.
People in one group of villages used cloth from old saris, foldedeight times, as a filter for their drinking water. People in anothergroup of villages used modern nylon filters for their water. Peoplein the other villages continued to gather water in traditional ways,without using filters. About forty-four-thousand people were studiedin each of the three groups of villages.
Rita Colwell from the University of Maryland at College Parkhelped lead the study. She said the people in the villages usingfilters from old saris had the lowest number of cases of cholera.The researchers also found that almost ninety-nine percent ofcholera bacteria could be filtered out with the sari cloth. MizzColwell said that cloth from old saris worked best because it hasbeen washed repeatedly. She said the space between the threads ofthe material narrows when the cloth is washed so it traps smallerparticles.
Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by bacteria. It candevelop in the body in less than five days. It can quickly lead tosevere diarrhea, vomiting, and a loss of bodily fluids. Death ispossible if treatment is not given quickly. Children under age fiveare most at risk. In two-thousand-one, the World Health Organizationreported almost two-hundred-thousand cases of cholera in fifty-eightcountries. About three-thousand people died from the disease.
Cholera spreads quickly in developing countries. People get thedisease by drinking water or eating food that contains the bacteria.The disease is most often found in areas where there is uncleanwater and ineffective human waste removal systems.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.