Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:55:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 VivianeSFN_DISSERT.pdf: 1830875 bytes, checksum: cab92fad26402f8ffafa1b30a4f983b4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-07 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Water is essential to life and all living organisms and their supply is necessary for economic development and quality of life of human populations, but their quality has been altered by human actions. In semi-arid northeast, the water is an issue of concern, especially its quality. This region is common to the construction of reservoirs that capture rain water, streams and temporary rivers in search of ease this situation, being intended for various purposes. Water scarcity is a limiting factor for the economic and social development of the region and contributes to the maintenance of waterborne diseases. About 80% of diseases that occur in developing countries are infected by waterborne pathogens. Therefore, this study aimed to determine in two environments that are part of semil?nticos Armando Ribeiro Gon?alves reservoir, and a stretch of the river Assu, all located in the semiarid RN, the occurrence of opportunistic pathogenic bacteria; check the conceptions of teachers and health workers about the issues "waterborne diseases" and "bacteria" and a diagnosis of diarrheal diseases that affect the population in some municipalities of the semi-arid region of RN from a survey of epidemiological data. For identification of bacteria using commercial kits and the diagnosis of diarrheal disease was based on information from databases. The previous conceptions of teachers and health workers were obtained through questionnaires. The results confirmed the presence of opportunistic bacteria in the studied area, showing the importance of monitoring water quality. There was an under-reporting of cases of diarrhea pointing out flaws in the monitoring of Diarrheal Diseases and indicating the need to improve it. It was felt also the need to implement educational activities on topics dealt with both with teachers and health workers, since they were identified misconceptions on the subject / A ?gua ? essencial ? vida e a todos os organismos vivos e o seu suprimento ? necess?rio para o desenvolvimento econ?mico e para a qualidade de vida das popula??es humanas, mas sua qualidade vem sendo alterada pelas a??es antr?picas. No semi?rido nordestino, a ?gua ? uma quest?o preocupante, especialmente a sua qualidade. Nessa regi?o ? comum a constru??o de reservat?rios, que captam ?guas de chuvas, c?rregos e rios tempor?rios, na busca de amenizar essa situa??o, sendo destinados para diversas finalidades. A escassez de ?gua ? limitante para o desenvolvimento econ?mico e social da regi?o e contribui com a manuten??o das doen?as de veicula??o h?drica. Cerca de 80% das doen?as que ocorrem em pa?ses em desenvolvimento s?o veiculadas pela ?gua contaminada por microrganismos patog?nicos. Nesse contexto, este trabalho objetivou determinar, em dois ambientes semil?nticos que fazem parte do reservat?rio Armando Ribeiro Gon?alves, e em um trecho do rio Assu, todos localizados no semi-?rido potiguar, a ocorr?ncia de bact?rias patog?nicas oportunistas; verificar as concep??es de professores e agentes de sa?de a respeito dos temas doen?as de veicula??o h?drica e bact?rias , e realizar um diagn?stico das doen?as diarr?icas que acometem a popula??o de alguns munic?pios do semi-?rido do RN a partir do levantamento de dados epidemiol?gicos. Para identifica??o das bact?rias utilizaram-se kits comerciais, e o diagn?stico das doen?as diarr?icas foi realizado com base em informa??es de bancos de dados. As concep??es pr?vias de professores e agentes de sa?de foram obtidas por meio da aplica??o de question?rios. Os resultados confirmaram a presen?a de bact?rias oportunistas nos ambientes estudados, evidenciando a import?ncia de vigil?ncia da qualidade da ?gua. Verificou-se uma sub-notifica?ao de casos de diarr?ias apontando falhas no Monitoramento das Doen?as Diarr?icas, e indicando a necessidade de aprimor?-lo. Percebeu-se, ainda, a necessidade de implementa??o de atividades educativas sobre os temas abordados, tanto com os professores como com os agentes de sa?de, uma vez que foram identificadas concep??es equivocadas sobre o tema

Waterborne diseases are illnesses caused by microscopic organisms, like viruses, bacteria and  parasites, that transmitted via the fecal-oral route through ingestion of contaminated water or food or by direct person to person contact. The transmission cycle can be broken through safe water supplies, maintaining standards of sanitation and proper handwashing practices. Two waterborne diseases are considered in this study: hepatitis A and amebic dysentery. The study aimed to understand the important factors for preventing waterborne diseases in order to improve public health. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the effect of different drinking water sources, sewage systems and different active practices of soap use for hand washing on incidence of waterborne diseases in different regions in Saudi Arabia. Data was obtained from Ministry of Health and Household Environment Survey provided by General Authority for Statistics. Statistical analysis performed by using general linear model and type II Analysis of Variance. In comparison of different drinking water sources, this study showed borderline rise in incidence of waterborne diseases with the use of private well water. Whereas different sewage systems had no clear effect on the incidence of waterborne diseases. The study also revealed that not using soap for hand washing would increase the risk for hepatitis A infection. Moreover, the study showed significant decline in waterborne diseases incidence when access to filtered water combined with regular soap use in the same linear model.