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Recreational Water–Associated Disease Outbreaks - United States 2009–2010
Citation:
Hlvasa, M., V. Roberts, A. Kahler, E Hilborn, Tim Wade, L. Backer, J. Yoder, AND M. Beach. Recreational Water–Associated Disease Outbreaks - United States 2009–2010. MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC, 63(1):6-10, (2014).
Impact/Purpose:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the US EPA publishe biannual surveillance summaries of waterborne disease outbreaks in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In this summary, recreational water outbreaks for the years 2009-2010 are summarized
Description:
Recreational water–associated disease outbreaks result from exposure to infectious pathogens or chemical agents in treated recreational–water (e.g., pools and hot tubs or spas) or untreated recreational¬–water (e.g., lakes and oceans) venues. Outbreaks occurring during 2009–2010 were voluntarily reported to CDC via the electronic National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS). For 2009–2010, public health officials from 28 states and Puerto Rico reported 81 recreational water–associated disease outbreaks. Of the 1,326 reported outbreak-related cases, 62 resulted in hospitalization. Of 57 treated recreational water–associated disease outbreaks, 24 (42%) were caused by Cryptosporidium. The number of treated recreational water–associated outbreak of cryptosporidiosis is at least in part driving the significant increase in the overall number of recreational water–associated disease outbreaks reported for a given year (negative binomial regression, p <0.0001). Of 24 untreated recreational water–associated disease outbreaks, 11 (46%) were confirmed or suspected to have been caused by cyanobacterial toxins. Optimizing the quality and completeness of national surveillance data on recreational water–associated disease outbreaks can be used to direct and optimize prevention and control efforts, particularly when combined with surveillance data from other sources.