Beware before you drink that ice-tea! A study finds that drinking iced tea or un-boiled water and having a water source near a toilet may increase the risk of cholera.
The results, published in the journal of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, suggested that about 22 percent of people with cholera reported drinking iced tea in the week prior to their disease, whereas only three percent of controls had drank iced tea in the week before being interviewed.
Cholera transmission is closely linked to inadequate access to clean water and is often spread through contaminated drinking water.
Thuong Vu Nguyen, along with researchers from the Pasteur Institute Ho Chi Minh City, interviewed 60 people who were confirmed to have been infected with cholera during the 2010 outbreak in Ben Tre, as well as 240 subcommune-, 5-year age group- and sex-matched controls.
They also recorded the information about each person’s eating, drinking behaviours and living environment. The team also collected samples of nearby river water, drinking water, wastewater samples and local seafood, to test for Vibrio cholerae, the bacteria which spreads the disease.
