Estudio de los aspectos de la contaminación de los suelos relacionados con la salud pública / Study of the aspects of soil pollution and public health

ABSTRACT

To give an idea of the extent and long history of soil pollution as a public health problem, reference is made to the parasitic condition of the sick rural population, the decrease in living space and the consequent pollution brought on by overpopulation and growth of urban areas and industry throughout the world; reference is also made to the attempts at solution of this situation begun in Biblical times when "the efficient hygienic disposal of excrement... to combat contamination of the soil" was called for. Soil pollution is produced by pathogenic microorganisms which may be clasified in three categories those expelled by man (man-soil-man), those transmitted by animals (animal-soil-man), and those which naturally exist in the soild (soil-man). Precise details are given - including incidence, infectious agents, reservoirs and method of communication - for the twenty most important diseases brought on in man by these microorganisms