Hypersensitivity to Mains Tap Water in Children: Its Clinical Features and Treatment

Abstract

Clinical ecology is concerned with the relationship between human requirements and the human habitat in terms of the specific reaction of the patient to the environment as a biological unit. One of the most basic requirements of the human organism is for water. This paper is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of sensitivity of children to contaminants in domestic water. The clinical features of domestic water sensitivity are described. Procedures for the diagnosis of water sensitivity have been developed and applied clinically to samples of children and adults. The clinical features of water sensitivity are related closely to the body tissues with which the water antigen principally comes into contact, namely the alimentary canal, the skin and the urinary system. The water antigen also produces symptoms in the peripheral and central nervous systems. As in the case of other allergens, water contaminants produce initial stimulation and subsequent depression of cellular activity during the development of cellular sensitivity. Recognition of this chain alteration in cell responses is of importance in the diagnosis of water contaminant sensitivity. Treatment of the symptoms in children can be successfully carried out by complete exclusion from contact with domestic water. Water exclusion is followed by a typical withdrawal syndrome in children and adults.