Viruses in nondisinfected drinking water from municipal wells and community incidence of acute gastrointestinal illness.
BACKGROUND
Groundwater supplies for drinking water are frequently contaminated with low levels of human enteric virus genomes, yet evidence for waterborne disease transmission is lacking.


OBJECTIVE
We related quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-measured enteric viruses in the tap water of 14 Wisconsin communities supplied by nondisinfected groundwater to acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) incidence.


METHODS
AGI incidence was estimated from health diaries completed weekly by households within each study community during four 12-week periods. Water samples were collected monthly from five to eight households per community. Viruses were measured by qPCR, and infectivity assessed by cell culture. AGI incidence was related to virus measures using Poisson regression with random effects.


RESULTS
Communities and time periods with the highest virus measures had correspondingly high AGI incidence. This association was particularly strong for norovirus genogroup I (NoV-GI) and between adult AGI and enteroviruses when echovirus serotypes predominated. At mean concentrations of 1 and 0.8 genomic copies/L of NoV-GI and enteroviruses, respectively, the AGI incidence rate ratios (i.e., relative risk) increased by 30%. Adenoviruses were common, but tap-water concentrations were low and not positively associated with AGI. The estimated fraction of AGI attributable to tap-water-borne viruses was between 6% and 22%, depending on the virus exposure-AGI incidence model selected, and could have been as high as 63% among children < 5 years of age during the period when NoV-GI was abundant in drinking water.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of groundwater-source public water systems in the United States produce water without disinfection, and our findings suggest that populations served by such systems may be exposed to waterborne viruses and consequent health risks.
Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA. mark.borchardt@ars.usda.gov
Mark A
MA
Borchardt
Susan K
SK
Spencer
Burney A
BA
Kieke
Elisabetta
E
Lambertini
Frank J
FJ
Loge
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D060587:Groundwater / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012621:Seasons; D014780:Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014922:Wisconsin / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
D060766:Drinking Water