Environmental risk factors for hepatitis A infection in the Zenica-Doboj Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the Zenica-Doboj Canton, 1106 hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections were reported during 2000 (an incidence rate of 252/100 000 population), with 996 (90.1%) cases occurring in nine community-wide outbreaks. Analysis of water supplies showed that 398 (19.1%) samples contained coliforms, including 202 (50.8%) that were contaminated with thermotolerant Escherichia coli. Sewage sanitation systems were absent or substandard in 53 910 (81.8%) rural households. The group most affected during outbreaks comprised children aged 7-14 years (incidence rate of 598/100 000). The development of health promotion and prevention initiatives in schools, combined with rigorous hygiene measures, will be necessary to achieve control of the spread of HAV.

[The prevalence of smoking, alcohol consumption and drug abuse in school children and adolescents]. / Rasprostranjenost pusenja, upotrebe alkohola i opojnih sredstava kod skolske djece i omladine.

In this work the authors have examined through the survey, the prevalence of smoking, alcohol consumption and drug abuse among the school children and youth. Subjects in this research were 208 pupils in Primary school and 232 pupils in Secondary school. It has been found that in the group of Primary school children 0.9% smoke, 5.83% consume alcohol and 0.9% use narcotics. Out of total number of subjects from Secondary school 27.97% smoke, 28.81% consume alcohol and 10.59% use narcotics. The problem is especially prominent among the boys and girls of the last two years of Secondary school: 42.86% smoke; 41.35% consume alcohol and 13.53 use narcotics.

[Status of the quality of drinking water provided to schools in the area of the Zenoj-Doboj Canton]. / Stanje zdravstvene ispravnosti vode za pice kojom se opskrbljuju skolski objekti na podrucju Ze-Do kantona.

In this research the authors have examined the quality of drinking water in schools by the microbiological and physico-chemical analyses of water samples from 140 schools in the region of ten municipalities of Zenica-Doboj Canton (Bosnia and Herzegovina). It is found that 18.57% of samples in the microbiological analysis, and 80.26% of samples in physico-chemical analysis, did not meet the standards prescribed for drinking water. Comparing the data in the statistic reports of health institutions and registration lists for infectious diseases in this area with the incidence of intestinal infections in the Region, the authors reached the conclusion that the incidence of intestinal infectious diseases and hepatitis A does not correlate to percentage of impure drinking water samples. This could be explained by lack of the sufficient and consistent registration of the infectious diseases which comes under the law.