Community intervention trial for estimating risk of acute gastrointestinal illness from groundwater-supplied non-disinfected drinking water.
J Water Health
; 21(9): 1209-1227, 2023 Sep.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37756190
ABSTRACT
By community intervention in 14 non-disinfecting municipal water systems, we quantified sporadic acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) attributable to groundwater. Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection was installed on all supply wells of intervention communities. In control communities, residents continued to drink non-disinfected groundwater. Intervention and control communities switched treatments by moving UV disinfection units at the study midpoint (crossover design). Study participants (n = 1,659) completed weekly health diaries during four 12-week surveillance periods. Water supply wells were analyzed monthly for enteric pathogenic viruses. Using the crossover design, groundwater-borne AGI was not observed. However, virus types and quantity in supply wells changed through the study, suggesting that exposure was not constant. Alternatively, we compared AGI incidence between intervention and control communities within the same surveillance period. During Period 1, norovirus contaminated wells and AGI attributable risk from well water was 19% (95% CI, -4%, 36%) for children <5 years and 15% (95% CI, -9%, 33%) for adults. During Period 3, echovirus 11 contaminated wells and UV disinfection slightly reduced AGI in adults. Estimates of AGI attributable risks from drinking non-disinfected groundwater were highly variable, but appeared greatest during times when supply wells were contaminated with specific AGI-etiologic viruses.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Drinking Water
/
Groundwater
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Child
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Water Health
Journal subject:
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Publication country:
ENGLAND
/
ESCOCIA
/
GB
/
GREAT BRITAIN
/
INGLATERRA
/
REINO UNIDO
/
SCOTLAND
/
UK
/
UNITED KINGDOM