Disease of living styleA case study of parasite disease and rural environment in
Pingtung region
Michael Shiyung Liu
Academia Sinica
The Kaoping Valley
Disease and lifestyle
• Certain type of illness could link to specific causation of living style
• Kaoping River has been polluted by various forms– human waste, – wastewater from animal husbandry (piggery,
cattle, and fowl)– urban rubbish, and industrial hazard etc.
Water supply, hygiene and disease
• Epidemiologist Bradley’s classification– Water-borne - caused through consumption of
contaminated– Water-washed - caused through the use of inadequate
volumes for personal hygiene– Water-based - where an intermediate aquatic host is
required– Water-related vector - spread through insect vectors
associated with water
• “Water-caused” diseases
Ratio of water-caused diseases in Kaoping valley
y = 0.3303x + 22.548
R2 = 0.147
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Years
Perc
enta
ge o
f all
caus
es o
f dea
th
diseases
Water-caused disease in Kaoping Valley
• Among all “water-caused” diseases, based on public health surveys in the 1920s and 30s
• The gross morbidity rate of parasite-related diseases was 18 per cent
• To the causes of death, gastroenteritis was the most important cause of death among the infant and child (ages 0 to 4) mortality problem
Agricultural and early urban diseases(1920s-30s)
• Fishery ports and market-towns appeared in the downstream of Kaoping Valley– Urbanization since the 1930s– urban population increased nearly double animal
husbandry
• Bringing so many animals into urban proximity they created conditions were epidemic diseases might – and often did – spread rapidly
Ligang: A market-town in midstream
• The crisis in the region's irrigation systems in the wake of the 1930s urbanization was directly tied to the simultaneous increase in many parasite problems.– Malaria, paratyphoid and dengue fever
Dengue fever on Nichinich shinpoDate Range Ligang Note
1915/7/14-11/9 South unknown Expended to North in August
1918/7/14 Middle & South identified Spanish flu invaded
1920/11/26 North N/A
1922/9/1 South identified Endemic cases
1923/4/16 South identified Endemic cases
1924/5/5-10/24 islandwide identified Server outbreak
1926/9/18-10/26 South identified Endemic cases
1931/8/8-10/6 islandwide identified Server outbreak
1936/7/28 South identified Endemic cases
1942/9/10 islandwide identified Server outbreak
Cases of paratyphoid and dengue fever (Ligang, 1920-1940)
0
50
100
150
200
250
Years
head
/cas
e
Animal population Paratyphoid Dengue Fever
Post-WWII development
• Certain disease such as Amebiasis indicate the distance between farmer and livestock was very close, especially in the cycle of food-chain
• The debate of water pollution in the Kaoping River rise since late-1970s, and in the 80s the debate evolves to series of violent demonstrations till the early 21st century.– The deterioration of water quality links to
• bio-waste and chemical pollutants
Animal husbandry in Kaoping Valley
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
Year
per h
ead
cattles pigs goat fowl
Animal husbandry and bio waste
Distribution of piggery in Kaoping Valley (1997-2002)
A piggery and untreated waste water
Question
• With growth of animal husbandry and regional population, the morbidity rate of enterogastritis however shows a decline trend between 1960s and 1990s– DDT spraying project from 1953 through 1957– deterioration of water quality since the 1970s• 64.5% from piggery, 20.7% Industrial waste, 13.2
household waste, and 1.6 city rubbish
Ratio between numbers of manufacture and agricultural-related business
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Years
Rat
io (%
)
Manufacture Agricultural-related
Life rubbish dumped in Ligang area
Documentary of Pollution in Kaoping Valley
Concluding remarks1961
46.26%
39.11%
14.63%
infectious disease chronic illness others
1971
45.64%
40.72%
13.64%
infectious disease chronic illness others
1981
42.58%
43.16%
14.26%
infectious disease chronic illness others
1991
39.98%
43.95%
16.07%
infectious disease chronic illness others
2001
36.22%
42.92%
20.86%
infectious disease chronic illness others