Household faecal contamination and diarrhoea risk.

We conducted a study in a low-ranking socioeconomic community in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) to determine the source of household faecal contamination (HFC), devise an index, and associate this index with diarrhoeal incidence in children. Observation was used to collect information on the sources of household faecal contamination (HFC) and a twice-weekly monitoring scheme was employed for determining diarrhoea incidence. A valid household faecal contamination index (HFCI) was developed using three sources of HFC: going about without footwear, indiscriminate defaecation near or under the house, and absence of latrine. The risk of diarrhoea significantly increased from 4.21 to 8.66 per 1000 child-days (P less than 0.001) when HFCI increased from 0 to 3. Although the adjusted rate ratios for the three levels of HFCI were approximately equal to 2.00 (2.16, 1.77, 2.14), they were not statistically significant. Further studies are needed to corroborate the results of what seems to be the first study attempting to associate HFC with diarrhoea incidence.