Human feces fertilizer poses risk

UPI May 10 Using human feces to fertilize soil in eastern Uzbekistan could cause a typhoid outbreak, a local human rights group said. Officials in the Namangan region's Pop district allow farmers to use human feces as fertilizer, Uzbekistan's human rights group Ezgulik reported. Ezgulik found water from fields and gardens fertilized with feces drains to irrigation channels and rivers, from which people drink, raising the potential for typhoid. Thirty people came down with typhoid in the village of Chodak in 2004 as a result of drinking water from a river that runs close to the village, Ezgulik said. World Health Organization data show Salmonella typhi, the disease organism, is recognized by sudden and sustained fever, severe headache, nausea and severe loss of appetite. It can be accompanied by hoarse cough and either constipation or diarrhea.