title: Illness in a community associated with an episode of water contamination with sewage.
abstract: Following an episode of water contamination with sewage in a rural Irish town, a community-wide survey of gastrointestinal-associated illness and health service utilization was conducted. Random sampling of households yielded residents who were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. Of 560 respondents from 167 (84%) households, equal proportions lived in areas known to have been exposed and unexposed to the contaminated water, although 65% of subjects reported using contaminated water. Sixty-one percent of subjects met the case definition. The most common symptoms among cases were abdominal cramps (80%), diarrhoea (75%), appetite loss (69%), nausea (68%) and tiredness (66%). Mean duration of illness was 7.4 days. Only 22% of cases attended their general practitioner. Drinking unboiled water from the exposed area was strongly associated with being a case. A substantial degree of community illness associated with exposure to contaminated water was observed. The episode ranks as one of the largest reported water-borne outbreaks causing gastrointestinal illness in recent times.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Medicine, Eastern Health Board, Dublin.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fogarty
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laffoy
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: O'Flanagan
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Devlin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corcoran
mesh_terms: D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012423:Rural Health; D012722:Sewage; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014876:Water Pollution; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage