Morbidity due to dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease) and diarrhoea in persons of all ages, and nutritional status of young children, were used as health impact indicators in the evaluation of the Imo State Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Project in south-eastern Nigeria. Data were collected using repeated cross-sectional surveys and longitudinal follow-up. The study area was found to have a low level of endemicity of dracunculiasis. While no impact could be demonstrated on overall period or point prevalence rates in the cross-sectional surveys, a prospective longitudinal survey showed a significant reduction in the percentage of person-fortnights positive for dracunculiasis in areas served by the project, while the control areas showed no such change. In the cross-sectional surveys it was found that, in the project villages, those persons drinking only borehole water had significantly lower period prevalence rates one year later than others. Moreover, those living further from the nearest borehole had higher rates of dracunculiasis. An impact of the project on diarrhoea morbidity was found only in limited sub-groups of the population. A greater association with water availability rather than quality was suggested for rates in young children. The prevalence of wasting (less than 80% weight-for-height) among children aged less than 3 years decreased significantly over time in all 3 intervention villages; there was no such decline in the control villages.

A health impact evaluation was conducted in conjunction with the Imo State Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Nigeria. The project consisted of a package of water supply, sanitation, and health and hygiene education given by village-based workers. The evaluation was a quasi-experimental study covering pre-, peri- and post-intervention periods. Data were collected from 3 intervention and 2 control villages. Baseline surveys indicated that the intervention and control areas were similar with respect to most socio-demographic variables. Use of the improved water supply was high, although this was influenced by borehole-to-population ratios and household-to-borehole distances. Water collection time was consequently greatly reduced. Data from a small sample of households showed that borehole water became heavily contaminated during collection and storage, and that there was no significant change in consumption of water per person. Adults in 46% of household units in the intervention area were using ventilated improved pit latrines by the end of the study period. Use by young children (2-5 years old), however, was low. Limitations in the success of the health education component of the project were found. Although changes were found in knowledge, attitudes and practices related to water and sanitation, and in management of childhood diarrhoea, this occurred in both the intervention and control areas.

A total of 101 Campylobacter isolates from Nigerian children with or without gastroenteritis were biotyped and serogrouped by using the Lior typing schemes (H.

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Summary. Ten antisera, prepared against nine seiected strains of group-G streptococci and a strain of group-A streptococci of M-type 12, were used to serotype 102 isolates of group-G streptococci by means of precipitation reactions between the sera and hot-acid extracts of the streptococci. Fifty-six (54.973 of the streptococci could be typed; eight serotypes were identified, of which type VIII was the most common (18.6%). The MI2 and the R28 antigens, previously recorded in group-G streptococci, were not detected. The type antigens were trypsin sensitive and resembled the M antigens of group-A streptococci.