Experts on Monday said drinking boiled water is the best way to prevent all water borne diseases, especially hepatitis.
In a programme telecast on PTV, Hepatitis Prevention and Control Programme Manager Dr Abdul Majeed Chutto and Karachi Center Deputy Commissioner Dr Syed Saif-ur-Rehman said there are five kinds of hepatitis, A, B, C, D, E. He said Hepatitis A and E are caused by drinking contaminated water. Chutto said the symptoms of Hepatitis include pain, light fever, nausea and upper abdominal pain, pale eyes and swelling of feet. He stated that Hepatitis is a silent killer and it takes 5-7 years for the symptoms to appear.
He said hair fall due this disease occurred in only 1-2 percent of the cases. He added that vaccinations should be kept at 2-8 degrees as room temperature can cause the drugs to expire. Dr Saif said in Pakistan the main cause of Hepatitis is lack of awareness as people usually did not know about ways how the disease was spread through blood transfusions, used blades and syringes and dirty hands. He stated that on the directives of the Sindh Chief Minister a campaign had been launched against the deadly disease. He said the first phase of the campaign will cover all the government schools and provide free vaccinations to students from class one to Matriculation, while in the second phase the private school students will be vaccinated.
PCRWR to provide water quality testing kits: Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) on Monday opened a sale point at its headquarters to provide water quality testing kits to the general public at reasonable prices. These kits will contain basic water quality testing parameters and treatment products like safe drinking water filters and chlorine tablets named ‘Mehfooz Pani’. OIC Standing Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation Consultant Dr Naim inaugurated the sale point.
PCRWR Chairman Dr Muhammad Aslam Tahir said the council’s professionals had developed the low cost products for provision of safe drinking water. He said the water filtration unit installed at the PCRWR headquarters had been providing safe drinking water to citizens since 2007. Naim appreciated the achievements of PCRWR in the fields of water management.
She also visited National Water Quality Laboratory, Commercialisation and Display Centers of the council.
While boiling water is certainly better than nothing, it's far from the best way to prevent disease! Boiling kills hepatitis but it does not remove other contaminants from water. And in the case of certain bacteria it can kill them but still leave their toxins!
Only pure water is absolutely safe. Reverse osmosis water is the most reliably pure water.
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