A Longitudinal Study of Household Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Characteristics and Environmental Enteropathy Markers in Children Less than 24 Months in Iquitos, Peru

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018 Apr;98(4):995-1004. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0464. Epub 2018 Feb 8.

Abstract

Poor child gut health, resulting from a lack of access to an improved toilet or clean water, has been proposed as a biological mechanism underlying child stunting and oral vaccine failure. Characteristics related to household sanitation, water use, and hygiene were measured among a birth cohort of 270 children from peri-urban Iquitos Peru. These children had monthly stool samples and urine samples at four time points and serum samples at (2-4) time points analyzed for biomarkers related to intestinal inflammation and permeability. We found that less storage of fecal matter near the household along with a reliable water connection were associated with reduced inflammation, most prominently the fecal biomarker myeloperoxidase (MPO) (no sanitation facility compared with those with an onsite toilet had -0.43 log MPO, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.74, -0.13; and households with an intermittent connection versus those with a continuous supply had +0.36 log MPO, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.63). These results provide preliminary evidence for the hypothesis that children less than 24 months of age living in unsanitary conditions will have elevated gut inflammation.

MeSH terms

  • Bathroom Equipment
  • Biomarkers / analysis
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cohort Studies
  • Environment
  • Feces / enzymology
  • Gastrointestinal Tract / pathology
  • Growth Disorders / epidemiology
  • Growth Disorders / metabolism*
  • Growth Disorders / pathology
  • Humans
  • Hygiene*
  • Infant
  • Inflammation / epidemiology
  • Inflammation / metabolism
  • Inflammation / pathology
  • Intestinal Diseases / epidemiology
  • Intestinal Diseases / metabolism*
  • Intestinal Diseases / pathology
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Peroxidase / analysis*
  • Peru / epidemiology
  • Sanitation*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Urine
  • Water / standards*

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Water
  • Peroxidase