Warning Signs You Might Be Suffering from Sewage Exposure

The last thing homeowners worry about is their home’s sewer line impacting their health. Wastewater quickly goes down the toilet, bath’s drain or even the garbage disposal never to be seen again. Before modern plumbing started to become the norm, sewage often poured into city streets, causing illness.

Poor sanitation can also be found 10% of the world’s population that eats food that has been contaminated with wastewater.

A brief look at European history shows that poor sewer system management led to massive deaths and sicknesses in medieval times. Dysentery, typhoid fever and even cholera led to death. Add in the plague, and people were dying in droves.

Many of these problems have been solved in today’s society.

But you can still be exposed to raw sewage.

  • Toilets can become clogged, overflowing quickly.
  • Septic tanks can overflow, leading to exposure to solid waste, excrement and wastewater.
  • Sinks and tubs can overflow with sewer water entering sinks and baths.
  • Floor drains can become overfilled, causing backups to enter into homes.

Proper drain cleaning, hydro jetting, repairs and even video inspection can be used to preemptively stop these overflows from occurring.

The issue is that most homeowners (39%) don’t have any savings at all. Over 50% of people don’t have $1,000 in savings. Repairs and preemptive plumbing work isn’t at the top of most peoples’ priority lists.

Signs of Sewage Exposure and Diseases

Sewage exposure can lead to diseases. There are tell-tale signs, often ignored, that you may be exposed to sewage that’s causing you to become sick. A few of the most common symptoms that you may experience if you’re exposed to sewage include:

  • Fever
  • Diarrhea
  • Stomach cramps
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Water stool
  • Jaundice
  • Loss of appetite
  • Fatigue
  • Weakness
  • Cough
  • Rash

Of course, the symptoms will depend on the disease that you’ve contracted. The most common diseases that are spread through sewage include but are not limited to:

  • Hepatitis A, caused by ingesting fecal matter. Hepatitis A is a vital liver disease, which is often apparent with the onset of jaundice.
  • Dysentery, caused by ingesting water that’s been contaminated with fecal matter.
  • Giardiasis, which is caused by a parasite that spreads the disease to humans.
  • Gastroenteritis, better known as the stomach flu.
  • Cryptosporidiosis, caused by wastewater.
  • Campylobacteriosis, an infection that is often caused by foodborne illnesses. This disease impacts 1.3 million Americans annually.
  • E. Coli, caused by ingesting water that’s been contaminated with fecal matter.
  • Salmonellosis, caused by contaminated food or water. This condition is rare, and it infects less than 200,000 people annually in the United States.
  • Typhoid fever, caused by contaminated food and water. Typhoid fever is extremely rare with less than 305 people in the United States being diagnosed with this condition annually.

The good news is that modern medicine can be used to treat all of these conditions. Identifying the symptoms and underlying disease is the key to ensuring that you can be properly treated. Fixing the sewage issue in your home is a must, but it will not be able to reverse the illnesses contracted. You will need to visit a doctor in most cases for proper treatment.

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