General, Research, Technology

What dangerous bacteria can live in tap water?

Every adult is recommendeddrink about 3 liters of water daily. There are more and more adherents of a healthy lifestyle, so many people successfully follow this simple advice. Most of us are used to drinking water straight from the tap, but did you know that it is not as clean as it looks? It gets into the taps of our apartments from reservoirs and lakes, therefore is initially very dirty... Before entering our homes, the water passesthorough cleaning and flows through kilometers of rusty pipes. Sometimes the measures taken to disinfect running water are few and dangerous bacteria and even viruses enter the human body. Recently in Texas, a terrible tragedy occurred due to dirty water, which we will talk about in this article. We will also figure out what kind of dangerous microorganisms can be contained in tap water.

Tap water can be deadly, but don't panic

Where does the water come from?

As mentioned above, there is water in the taps of our housescomes from reservoirs and lakes. First, it is collected in a so-called water treatment plant. There she goes through several stages of cleaning. First, it is mechanically cleaned from coarse debris. Then a chemical cleaning method is used - with the help of chlorine, dangerous bacteria and viruses contained in the water are killed. It is believed that the concentration of chlorine in the water supplied to our apartments is safe and cannot cause health problems. But in some cases, the above cleaning methods are too few.

This water is clearly not worth drinking

According to the World Health Organization, tap water can contain the following types of microorganisms:

  • bacteria, among which are Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Shigella;
  • viruses, which include adenoviruses, rotaviruses and hepatitis viruses;
  • protozoa in the form of amoebas and so on.

All these microscopic organisms can causegreat harm to the human body. Salmonella, E.coli and Shigella can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and other unpleasant symptoms. The diseases they cause are cured, but they cause a lot of torment and require several days to recover. Viruses are more dangerous because they can cause hepatitis A, a viral liver disease. Fortunately, many of us have already received a safe and effective vaccine from her. You might think that single-celled organisms called amoeba cannot harm us, but in some cases it is they who are deadly.

See also: How does drug-contaminated water affect fish behavior?

Danger of tap water

Recently, a great tragedy has occurred in the American state of Texas. Josh McIntyre, a six-year-old boy, has died of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis... This serious illness occurs afterthe amoeba Naegleria fowleri entering the human nose. It enters the brain along the olfactory nerves and begins to multiply actively. Because of this, hemorrhage and tissue death begins in the brain. Based on the fact that dangerous microorganisms mainly live in fresh water at a temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius, it is believed that the boy became infected with an amoeba through tap water.

Amoeba Naegleria fowleri

But it may be that the amoeba got in his nosewhile swimming. Be that as it may, running water in parts of Texas proved to be potentially dangerous. Therefore, the authorities advised people to use tap water only to flush the toilet. It is advised to use only bottled water for drinking. If there is no opportunity to buy it, you must carefully boil the water. Although, some scientists are sure that the amoeba cannot harm a person if it enters the gastrointestinal tract.

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The potential dangers of tap water alsotold the author of Hi-News.ru Daria Yeletskaya. In the material for 2019, she talked about what substances are usually used to purify water and what harmful substances it may contain. Only the emphasis in this material was made on the study of the question of whether tap water can cause cancer. It turned out to be a very interesting article, so I recommend reading it!