Waterborne Diseases
Protecting Pennsylvania Against Waterborne Diseases
The Office of Research and Development (ORD) and the Office of Water has published a series of papers summarizing the research conducted on waterborne disease in the last 10 years. The work includes research supported by EPA and others and is limited to gastrointestinal illness as the health effect of concern. The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments (SWDA) mandated the Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would conduct five waterborne disease studies and develop a national estimate of waterborne disease. The main purpose of the National Estimate papers is to review the state of the science, propose methodologies for estimating waterborne disease and the availability of data to make a National Estimate of Waterborne Disease.
Waterborne disease outbreaks associated with public drinking water have remained low in Pennsylvania according to a recent report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Risks from food and drink.
Contamination of drinking water by microbial pathogens, chemical compounds or radiologic
agents has the potential to affect the health of millions of Americans and may lead to severe
morbidity and mortality in vulnerable populations most at risk for water-related disease.
Giardia And Cryptosporidium
The following sites are worth checking out for more technical information on Giardia and Cryptosporidium.