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WATERBORNE DISEASE OUTBREAKS, 1986-1988
Citation:
Levine, W., W. Stephenson, AND G. Craun. WATERBORNE DISEASE OUTBREAKS, 1986-1988. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-90/089 (NTIS PB90245382), 1990.
Description:
From 1986 to 1988, 24 states and Puerto Rico reported 50 outbreaks of illness due to water that people intended to drink, affecting 25,846 persons. he protozoal parasite Giardia lamblia was the agent most commonly implicated in outbreaks, as it has been for the last 10 years; many of these outbreaks were associated with ingestion of chlorinated, but unfiltered surface water. higella sonnel was the most commonly implicated bacterial pathogen. n outbreaks caused by this pathogen, water supplies were fround to be contamined with human waste. ryptosporidium contamination of a chlorianted, filtered public water supply caused the largest outbreak during this period, affecting an estimated 13,000 persons. arge multistate outbreak causd by commercially produced ice made from contaminated well water caused illness with Norwalk-like virus among an estimated 5,000 persons. he first reported outbreak of chronic diarrhea of unknown cause associated with drinking untreated well water occurred in 1987. wenty-six outbreaks due to recreational water use were also reported, including outbreaks of Paeudomonas dermatitls associated with the use of hot tubs or whrilpools, and swimming-associated shigellosis giardiasis and viral ilness. lthough the total number of reported water-related outbreaks has been declining in recent years, the few large outbreaks due to Cryptosporidium, Norwalk-like agent, Shigella sonnei, and Giardia lamblia caused more causes of illness in 1987 than have been reported to the Water-Related Disease Outbreak Surveillance System for any other year since DCD and the Environmental Protention Agency began tabulating these data in 1971.
