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My understanding without any claims to be an expert. Hopefully those with greater expertise will put me right quickly. The Delagua kit tests for faecal coliforms https://www.delagua.org/products/categories/delagua-kits which will indicate if there has been faecal contamination – it will not tell you if there is or isn’t cholera or other of the various nasties in the water. I am unsure about the other kits mentioned but I would not hold my breath that they did anything more in this regard.

Testing for cholera specifically I believe has to be done in a laboratory. It is politically sensitive as major outbreaks are notifiable under the International Health Regulations with all sorts of implications: governments do not like confirming it and hence the use of Acute Watery Diarrhoea as a “politically acceptable” term for it.

In Goma at least, the cholera swept in but so did dysentery; from rumours to frightening numbers of dead bodies was a matter of days – I doubt anyone knows how many were killed by each – but I would suggest that there is sometimes too much focus on cholera. The explosive mixture is people crammed together in a weakened state without sanitation and safe water.

My feeling is that important as testing is, it is more important (and quicker?) to look at the risk factors and take informed action so far as possible on crowding, sanitation and water. I would focus hygiene promotion on helping people adapt to their new conditions and risks – many will have lived in slums before but have been more presentable and a whole lot cleaner than the average aid worker, so beware preaching!

Regards

Tim Foster

My understanding without any claims to be an expert. Hopefully those with greater expertise will put me right quickly. The Delagua kit tests for faecal coliforms https://www.delagua.org/products/categories/delagua-kits which will indicate if there has been faecal contamination – it will not tell you if there is or isn’t cholera or other of the various nasties in the water. I am unsure about the other kits mentioned but I would not hold my breath that they did anything more in this regard.

Testing for cholera specifically I believe has to be done in a laboratory. It is politically sensitive as major outbreaks are notifiable under the International Health Regulations with all sorts of implications: governments do not like confirming it and hence the use of Acute Watery Diarrhoea as a “politically acceptable” term for it.

In Goma at least, the cholera swept in but so did dysentery; from rumours to frightening numbers of dead bodies was a matter of days – I doubt anyone knows how many were killed by each – but I would suggest that there is sometimes too much focus on cholera. The explosive mixture is people crammed together in a weakened state without sanitation and safe water.

My feeling is that important as testing is, it is more important (and quicker?) to look at the risk factors and take informed action so far as possible on crowding, sanitation and water. I would focus hygiene promotion on helping people adapt to their new conditions and risks – many will have lived in slums before but have been more presentable and a whole lot cleaner than the average aid worker, so beware preaching!

Regards

Tim Foster