Parasitic contamination of stored water used for drinking/cooking in Hyderabad.

A study was undertaken to investigate the parasitic contamination of water in Hyderabad city, India. A total of 232 samples of water were collected from different places; social welfare hostels, small restaurants, different households, public places like railway stations, bus depots, street food vendors, hand washings from the food handlers, and vegetable washings from vegetable vendors. Of these 232 samples 61 samples indicated the presence of pathogenic parasites which include protozoans (cysts of Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, adult stages of G. lamblia, Balantidium coli) and nematode eggs, (Enterobius vermicularis, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura), rhabditiform and filariform larvae and adult stages of Strongyloides stercoralis and Enterobius vermicularis. The source of the samples in all places was the water stored in overhead tanks and various other containers. Hand washings from food handlers also showed the presence of pathogenic parasites although the original water used for such washings were free from contamination.