Pathogens, also known as infectious agents, are known to spread diseases and cause harm to human health. When these pathogens enter the water body, it can lead to different risk factors, and sometimes the risk is very diverse and fatal.
In humans, pathogens affect the body tissues, resulting in harmful diseases. Though the human immune system can battle against certain diseases, some are fatal and hazardous.
Different Types Of Pathogens
Generally, we can divide pathogens into five categories: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protists, and parasitic worms. Let us understand the five types in detail.
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Bacteria
As soon as the harmful bacteria enter the human body, it starts to reproduce rapidly, resulting in severe tissue damage. When a person gets affected by a bacterial infection, doctors recommend some bacterial drugs and antibiotics to treat the condition.
However, not all bacteria are known to cause severe diseases. Some bacteria are helpful in certain metabolic functions and are harmless.
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Virus
Smaller in size than bacteria but can infect the human body more rapidly and vigorously. The virus is known to affect the host cell by invading. It can multiply even faster and affect the other host cells at a high pace.
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Fungi
Different species of fungi are known to affect humans differently. They can cause certain diseases such as athlete’s foot and ringworm.
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Protist
They are known to affect the growth of crops and plants. When a person eats food infected with certain pathogens, it can lead to dysentery and diarrhoea.
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Parasitic Worms
They are big enough to be visible to the naked eye. These pathogens include flatworms, thorny head worms, and roundworms. They survive either in the intestines or in the gastrointestinal tract.
Harmful Effects of Pathogens
Pathogens attack the human body and then feed on its nutrients. Due to the friendly environment, pathogens tend to multiply faster, leading to severe diseases.
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Bacteria can cause tuberculosis, meningitis, food poisoning, gonorrhoea, typhoid, and chlamydia.
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Viruses can cause influenza, rotaviruses, measles, mumps, HIV, etc.
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Fungi cause asthma, skin and nail infections, and lung infections.
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Protozoa is responsible for dysentery, malaria, African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness.
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Parasitic worms are responsible for different diseases known as lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and schistosomiasis.
Prevention From Pathogens
A few preventive measures will ensure that you won’t get affected by the infections that pathogens cause. Check out the steps to keep yourself protected.
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Wash hands regularly for 20 seconds with soap and water. You can try alcohol-based sanitizers for more effective results.
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Vaccines are also important as they will help your immune system to be ready to fight diseases.
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Keep your surroundings neat and clean, as it can help to eliminate the growth of pathogens and other harmful viruses.
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Avoid insect bites and ensure that you’re safe from the attack of harmful pathogens.
Organic Wastes
The waste materials that come from animals or plants and are biodegradable are known as organic wastes. Although they are biodegradable, we need to manage them effectively to reduce water pollution.
As the waste from industries and agricultural farms runs into the water, the microorganisms present in the water start to decompose. In this decomposition process, microorganisms use a certain amount of oxygen, known as biological oxygen demand.
The amount of oxygen present in the water is dissolved oxygen.
Harmful Effects of Organic Wastes
When the microorganisms start the decomposition procedure, they directly impact the water’s oxygen concentration. Thus, it imposes enormous pressure on the rivers as the water begins to lack oxygen. This deficiency in oxygen affects aquatic life to a large extent.
As per recent statistics, if the same continues, the water bodies that depend on water to live will be diminished. In contrast, the bacteria that do not require oxygen to live will start decomposing on the waste, leading to serious risk factors for human health and the environment.
Prevention from Organic Wastes
We should take precautionary measures while dumping organic waste into the water body. This approach can protect aquatic animals, positively impacting the environment.
Chemical Pollutants
Aside from pathogens and organic wastes, chemical pollutants are the major sources that can threaten the environment and human health. Chemical pollutants released into the air can lead to serious risk factors when someone inhales, ingest, or absorbs the pollutant.
Harmful Effects of Chemical Pollutants
When inhaled, it can lead to serious damage. It can affect major organs such as the liver, kidneys, nervous system, blood, cardiovascular system, immune system, or reproductive system.
Prevention From Chemical Pollutants
There is no doubt that eradicating the pollutant is hard, but we can prevent the harmful effects of chemical pollutants by safe exposure.
A regulatory body must handle and educate people regarding the toxicity of different chemicals. The government should change the policies on chemical exposure to minimise its associated risks.
The more we pay attention to the chemicals, the safer the environment will be.
Conclusion
This article discusses the harmful effects of pathogens, organic wastes, and chemical pollutants. It also provides information on their prevention. Water pollution is becoming one of the most threatening issues around the globe.
By taking time to understand the effects of pollutants and other harmful pathogens, it can be an easy feat to deal with them.