Cancer Causing Viruses Found in Kampala and Arusha Water Sources

Recent studies by the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education have found traces of 25 harmful viruses in the surface water of slums in both Kampala and Arusha.

Working alongside local universities in both Uganda and Tanzania they established that most groundwater in the two slums – Bwaise in Kampala, Unga Limited and Sombetini in Arusha contained traces of herpes, poxvirus and most concerningly papilloma-virus.

The latter is thought to be linked to cancers that have developed in the region. At present Cancer is one of the lead causes of death in the East African region, responsible for 100,000 deaths every year.

According to the latest report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), 32,617 new cases of cancer were reported in Uganda last year, 21,829 of them fatal.

In the same period, Kenya recorded 47,887 new cancer cases and 32,987 died.

 It was a similar trend in Tanzania where 42,060 new cases were recorded with 28,610 deaths.

There is now serious concern that the widespread use of groundwater in slums for cooking, cleaning and bathing is worsening the health of residents and leading directly to dangerous cancers such as cervical, laryngeal cancer and mouth cancer.