Fecal contamination with a poor water, sanitation and hygiene environment in urban informal settlements poses diarrhea risks. Little information is available on the contamination of environmental media with enteric pathogens in such settlements. We investigated the contamination of Escherichia coli, rotavirus, and Cryptosporidium spp. in water, on kitchenware, and on flies in urban informal settlements of Chawama and Kanyama, Lusaka, Zambia. These environmental media were examined by XM-G agar cultivation for E. coli and specific real-time RT-PCR assays to detect rotavirus and Cryptosporidium spp. E. coli; rotavirus, and Cryptosporidium spp. were detected in samples of household stored drinking water (6 of 10 samples, 3 of 10 samples, and 2 of 10 samples, respectively), cups (10 of 20 samples, 2 of 13 samples, 1 of 13 samples, respectively), and flies (35 of 55 samples, 5 of 17 samples, 1 of 17 samples, respectively). The ranges of rotavirus concentrations in household stored drinking water, on cups, and flies were 2.9 × 10²–2.2 × 10⁵ copies/L, 1.2 × 10²–4.3 × 10² copies/cup, and 5.0 × 10¹–2.0 × 10² copies/fly, respectively. These results indicate the contribution of drinking water and kitchenware to enteric pathogen exposure and potential role of flies in microbial transmission.

城市非正规住区的水、环境卫生和个人卫生环境差，粪便污染会带来腹泻风险。关于此类定居点中肠道病原体污染环境介质的信息很少。我们调查了大肠杆菌、轮状病毒和隐孢子虫的污染。在赞比亚卢萨卡的 Chawama 和 Kanyama 城市非正规住区的水中、厨具和苍蝇中。这些环境培养基通过 XM-G 琼脂培养来检测大肠杆菌和特定的实时 RT-PCR 检测以检测轮状病毒和隐孢子虫属。大肠杆菌；轮状病毒和隐孢子虫spp. 在家庭储存饮用水样本（分别为 10 个样本中的 6 个、10 个样本中的 3 个和 10 个样本中的 2 个）、杯子（分别为 20 个样本中的 10 个、13 个样本中的 2 个、13 个样本中的 1 个）和苍蝇（分别为 55 个样本中的 35 个、17 个样本中的 5 个、17 个样本中的 1 个）。家庭储存的饮用水、杯子和苍蝇中轮状病毒的浓度范围分别为2.9 × 10 ² –2.2 × 10 ⁵拷贝/L、1.2 × 10 ² –4.3 × 10 ²拷贝/杯和5.0 × 10 ¹ –2.0 × 10 ²份/飞，分别。这些结果表明饮用水和厨具对肠道病原体暴露的贡献以及苍蝇在微生物传播中的潜在作用。