Bacterial Contamination of Vhuswa--a Local Weaning Food and Stored Drinking-Water in Impoverished Households in the Venda Region of South Africa (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Diarrhoeal diseases are common in children aged less than five years, and consumption of contaminated water and food is the major source of infection (1). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that consumption of contaminated water results in 2.2 million diarrhoea-related deaths annually in children aged less than five years in developing countries (2). The prevalence of diarrhoea is particularly high in children during the first two years of life, usually after weaning has commenced (3,4). Although the majority of women in Africa start weaning their infants at the age of 3-4 months, a few begin within the first two months of life (4-6). Depending on the country and culture, different foods and feeding methods are used for supplementing breastfeeding (4,5,7,8). In developing countries, up to 70% of diarrhoeal episodes are traced to pathogens transmitted from weaning food (9,10). It has further been shown that weaning foods prepared under unhygienic conditions are frequently contaminated with enteric bacterial pathogens that are major aetiological agents of diarrhoeal diseases and associated malnutrition (10).