bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/711002; this version posted July 22, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 1 THE BURDEN OF POOR HOUSEHOLD DRINKING-WATER QUALITY 2 ON HIV/AIDS INFECTED INDIVIDUALS IN RURAL COMMUNITIES OF 3 UGU DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY, KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE, 4 SOUTH AFRICA 5 C.M.N Khabo-Mmekoaa, M.N.B Mombab * 6 aDepartment of Biomedical Technology, Arcadia Campus, Tshwane University of 7 Technology, 175 Mandela Drive, Pretoria 0002, South Africa 8 bDepartment of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences, Arcadia Campus, Tshwane 9 University of Technology, 175 Mandela Drive, Pretoria 0002, South Africa 10 *Corresponding author: e-mail
[email protected], and
[email protected] 11 Tel: 012 382 6365/ 082 513 7395 12 13 14 ABSTRACT 15 This aim of this study was to ascertain whether household container-stored drinking 16 water might play a role in the diarrhoeic conditions of HIV/AIDS patients and non-HIV- 17 infected individuals of the rural communities who attended the Ugu District Municipal 18 hospitals. Water samples were collected from the standpipes and household 19 containers, and stool specimens were obtained from HIV/AIDS-positive and non- 20 HIV/AIDS patients with diarrhoea. Significant correlations were established between 21 the incidence of potentially pathogenic bacteria isolated from chlorinated household- 22 stored water, and in stool specimens of HIV-positive patients with diarrhoea (r = P < 23 0.05).