You are here:
IMPROVING WATERBORNE DISEASE SURVEILLANCE
Citation:
Frost, F. J., T. Muller, T. Kunde, R L. Calderon, AND G. Craun. IMPROVING WATERBORNE DISEASE SURVEILLANCE. Chapter 2, Pontius, F. (ed.), Drinking Water Regulation and Health. John Wiley & Sons Incorporated, New York, NY, , 25-45.
Description:
Public health surveillance has played a key role in controlling the spread of communicable disease and identifying the need for specific publich health practices, such as the filteration and chlorination of drinking water supplies. However, the characteristics of waterborne outbreaks over the past ten years have raised questions about whether current water treatment practices can prevent transmission of some enteric pathogens (1-4). In addition, one analysis suggested that a significant fraction of all enteric disease in the U.S. may be due to drinking water (5). Another study found evidence that consuming surface-derived drinking water which meets current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency water quality standards may significantly increase the risk of enteric illness (6). These concerns have motivated the United States Congress to ask the Environmental Protection Agency to preare a report on the magnitude of epidemic and endemic waterborne disease in the United States.