A . A IT M EL LO U L A ND L . H AS S AN I. 1999. The available circumstantial evidence gained from epidemiological and microbiological investigations suggests that the use of untreated wastewater causes an excess of Salmonella infection among children living in El Azzouzia (the wastewater-spreading area of Marrakesh city, Morocco) compared with those from a control area that does not practice sewage irrigation (Sidi Moussa). The prevalence in the exposed group (32·56%) was significantly (P ³ 0·001) higher than for the control group (1·14%). Serogroups B and C were the most commonly isolated. Boys were at greater risk (37·61%) of contracting Salmonella infection than girls (26·66%). Age-specified rates showed that children of less than 10 years old were infected at a higher rate than older children in the area (exposed group), with 40·32% and 19·72% rates of infection, respectively. Crop irrigation with untreated wastewater caused a significantly higher rate of infection with Salmonella in the children of agricultural workers (39·33%) than in the children of nonagriculturists (24·58%).

The use of wastewater and excreta in agriculture constitutes an important source of spread Salmonella strains and protozoan infections into the environment. This practice has been used in El Azzouzia (the wastewater-spreading area of Marrakesh city, Morocco) for several years. The available circumstantial evidence gained from epidemiological and microbiological investigations suggests that the use of untreated wastewater causes an excess of protozoan infections among children living in El Azzouzia (72%) compared with those from a control area (45%). The pathogenic protozoan infections observed were giardiasis (39%) and amoebiasis (28%). For Salmonella infection, 21.34% of the exposed children were infected, while this rate did not exceed 1.14% in the control group. The serogroups B and C were the most commonly isolated. The sewage farming children are therefore more exposed to detectable risk from pathogenic micro-organisms than the control children.

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