FFor years, Maresita Dorsey’s four children, ages 7 to 14, suffered regular bouts of nausea, vomiting and stomach pain. Their unexplained symptoms were severe enough to cause them to miss school several days a month.
“My eldest son used to say, ‘I feel like my stomach is on fire,'” Dorsey recalled. “Every week, I took at least one child to the doctor because something was wrong with their stomach.”
She suspected that their illness was water-related. She said her children never had stomach problems until they moved to the Delta.
Dorsey and his family lived in Shaw, Mississippi, a town of 1,400 people about 110 miles (175 km) north of Jackson. The area is plagued by sanitation issues, with Bolivar County residents filing six complaints with state authorities last year about exposure to raw sewage from leaks and burst pipes.
Researchers now warn that these problems may be contributing to the spread of intestinal infections and parasites such as hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms.
“There’s this idea that the United States has eradicated these things (parasites),” said Tara Sepon Robbins, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. “But no one has actually eradicated anything.”
In fact, approximately 12 million Americans are thought to “ignore” parasitic infections, a term given to them due to their prevalence, disabling symptoms, and association with poverty. These diseases can be spread through contact with contaminated water or feces, and tend to be more prevalent in poorer areas with poor sanitation systems.
Officials previously believed the U.S. had eliminated these parasites through investments in sanitation and public health, but recent studies have revealed alarmingly high rates of infection, especially in the South. .
“These are chronic and debilitating diseases,” says Peter Hotez, dean of Baylor University’s National School of Tropical Medicine. Hotez, who has been researching neglected tropical diseases in the region since 2008, said the findings of Sepon-Robbins and colleagues were in line with his expectations. “In fact, it is the poor living among the wealthy in the G20 countries that are responsible for most of the world’s neglected diseases,” he said.
Sepon Robbins and her team have been collecting blood and stool samples in Bolivar County since 2019 to uncover the impact of poor sanitation infrastructure on public health. The team’s results, published last year in the American Journal of Human Biology, were “concerning,” said Sepon-Robbins research partner Theresa Gildner.
Researchers found that 38% of children in the initial sample had intestinal parasitic infections, and 80% had high levels of intestinal inflammation, a common symptom of parasites. . (The initial sample was 24 children, but samples have since been collected from an additional 150 residents, but results are pending.) These numbers were It’s on par with the landmark 2017 study it led, which found more than one child. One-third of residents in Lowndes County, Alabama, tested positive for traces of hookworm.
Hotez said there is “no question” that exposure to untreated sewage was a factor in the infection rates Sepon Robbins and Gildner found in Bolivar County.
The presence of such parasites “can shape how your body responds to things for the rest of your life,” says Sepon-Robbins. “It can determine if you have an allergy or autoimmune disease,” which can lead to nutritional deficiencies, stunting, growth retardation, decreased ability to work and learn, and even, in severe cases, anemia and malnutrition. There is sex. Cepon-Robins and Gildner also found that children with higher levels of inflammation were more likely to be underweight than other children.
As researchers expanded their study, they also found that 73% of adults surveyed had increased rates of intestinal inflammation.
Gildner said that because few U.S. health care workers are trained to recognize or treat parasitic infections, many cases likely go undiagnosed. . She recalled laughing incredulously at the memory of recently giving a talk about her research when a doctor in the audience said, “We’re not going to find anything.”
“The overall environment is harsh.”
Approximately 63% of Bolivar County residents are black, many of whom are descendants of enslaved people. Currently, the county’s median household income is just under $29,000, and life expectancy is six years shorter than the U.S. average.
“The overall environment is harsh,” said the Rev. Jason Coker, founder of Delta Hands for Hope, an educational nonprofit in Shaw that connects researchers and residents.
Coker, who grew up in Shaw, said he was “100%” hopeful that researchers would find the presence of the parasite in samples tested from residents. He blamed the town’s decades-long water problems on white flight that began in the 1960s, which left Shaw without a tax base to fund infrastructure improvements. .
In 1971, black residents of Shaw won a lawsuit in federal court alleging that local officials discriminated against them by denying them services such as sewage, drainage, and water in majority-black neighborhoods. The court ordered Shaw authorities to submit “a remedial plan that will eliminate within a reasonable period of time the disparities that burden Shaw’s black citizens.”
But more than 50 years later, black communities in the South, including Shaw, have less access to clean drinking water and functioning sanitation systems than wealthier white communities. “The water is brown and people don’t cook with it or drink it,” said Chiquita Fountain, executive director of Delta Hands for Hope.
Shaw Mayor Eveleth Stanton denied any problems with the tap water, noting that Shaw’s tested water samples comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, but “you’ll smell it once the chlorine is gone.” he admitted. He added that Shaw officials are upgrading the town’s chlorination system.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave Mississippi’s wastewater infrastructure a “D-” rating in its latest infrastructure report card, noting a $2 billion backlog for needed repairs and upgrades. “This increases the potential for wastewater to leak into the environment and endanger the public,” the authors write.
In Bolivar department alone, with a population of 29,000, residents have filed 107 complaints since 2008. They report raw sewage flooding their backyards and sleeping far away from their homes to avoid the stench, headaches, and nausea that comes with the stench.
Charlene Gray, who lives in Choctaw about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from Shaw, said every few months the county sewage pump near her home fills with debris, leaving raw sewage pooling outside her home. spoke. “There’s sewage flowing out,” she said, pointing to a field of brown-stalked cotton adjacent to her property. Sometimes it penetrates her garden, near the peach and plum trees. “Then the scent becomes really strong.”
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality oversees wastewater system operators throughout the state. “MDEQ is aware of issues related to wastewater systems serving Choctaw communities,” MDEQ communications director Jan Schaefer said in response to emailed questions.
“We are in ongoing discussions with the Choctaw community, Bolivar County officials, and their attorneys to ensure the long-term operation and maintenance of a viable wastewater treatment system,” she said. and added: “Our efforts include working to ensure those responsible are identified” and responsible for the maintenance and operation of the wastewater system. ”
Schaefer did not respond to questions about whether infrastructure issues or a lack of funding for needed repairs and upgrades could be contributing to Bolivar County’s infestation.
She directed inquiries regarding parasitic infections and their potential causes to the Mississippi State Department of Health. Officials declined to respond.
Corker, the local advocate, believes Southern states’ “decade-long water problems” will probably only be solved with an influx of federal investment, but Donald Trump, who has promised huge spending cuts, He said he is skeptical that the incoming Trump administration will be able to resolve the issue. Prioritize communities like his. “Trump will do nothing for rural America while he is president,” he said.
Last year, Dorsey decided enough was enough. She and her family moved to the outskirts of the county, where she said she no longer fears exposure. Now, “they haven’t had stomach (problems) for a while,” she said. “I just thought it was a stomach bug. But this water is incredible.”
