Cryptosporidium Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Cryptosporidium Blog

Hopkins study says shellfish could pose health threat to humans

By Tom Pelton
Sun reporter
The Baltimore Sun
Originally published May 26, 2006

A Johns Hopkins study released yesterday has concluded that Asian oysters being considered for introduction into the Chesapeake Bay could pose a health threat because the shellfish are more likely to harbor pathogens that cause intestinal illness.

"These oysters may present a public health threat upon entering the human food chain, if harvested from polluted water," Thaddeus Graczyk, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, wrote in an article published in a scientific journal.

The species, native to the China coast, could also have a positive impact on the bay, the study found. The oysters would probably improve water quality because they are better at filtering out pollution and grow faster than Chesapeake oysters, Graczyk said in an interview.

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by Susan E. Rice
May 24, 2006
The Chetek Alert

The recent flushing of the water system caught the attention of many Chetek residents, but the practice is standard operating procedure. What is new to Chetek's water treatment is the use of UV light treatments and the city's participation in a study.

In the last few weeks a rumor concerning the city's tap water began circulating. Claims that the city was forgoing chlorine treatments in place of UV light treatments had people questioning the safety of their water.

According to Director of Public Work Dan Knapp, the city of Chetek does not use a chlorine based water treatment system.

"We use chlorine only when we have been working on the lines to eliminate any potential bacteria that may have entered the system during repairs," stated Knapp.

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Safety is behind policy change at hot weather favorite in Corning.

By LARRY WILSON
Star-Gazette Corning Bureau
May 25, 2006

CORNING - For the first time since Riverfront Centennial Park was developed in 1993, children will be prohibited this year from playing in the park's water fountain.

Corning Inc., which owns the Tioga Avenue park, installed signs Wednesday warning of potentially unsafe water. The signs prohibit running in the fountain area and also ban pets.

Rick Weakland, director of corporate real estate, said an incident last year in which people became sick after visiting a Geneva-area water park led to the company's decision.

"It did cause entities like us with fountains to reconsider how we manage the use of the fountain," he said. "We want to make sure people are aware of the potential risk."

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By Jeffery Smith
jsmith@the-leader.com

CORNING | Kids can cool off in the Centennial Park Fountain, just as long as they're careful.

Corning Inc. installed signs Wednesday near the fountain cautioning children not to run under or drink the falling water. The sign also restricts pets and children wearing diapers from the fountain area.

"Our intent is not to restrict kids from the fountain," said Kelli Hopp-Michlosky, a Corning Inc. spokesman. "We just don't run. We don't want anyone to get injured."

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May 24, 2006
WROC8TV.com
Cathy Orosz

The playground at Seneca Lake State Park is the only kids' attraction right now.

That's because the spray park remains dry following last summer's cryptosporidium outbreak.

Debbie Patrick of Geneva hopes her son will soon be able to splash in the water again.

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May 22, 2006

Kansas City Star

May 22-29 is National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week

Topeka, Kan. - infoZine - Memorial Day marks the traditional start of recreational water activities in Kansas. Pools, water parks and swimming beaches typically open for business. With these water activities comes the threat of contracting a waterborne illness. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) wants Kansans to be aware of the risks and take steps to avoid illness.

Recreational Water Illnesses (RWIs) are spread by swimming in water that has been poorly maintained and is contaminated with chlorine-resistant germs or from run-off to lakes or beaches.

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By LET newsdesk

Lancashire folk are being urged to wash hands, wellingtons and pram and pushchair wheels after visiting farms.

It comes from the Health Protection Unit after several cases of the stomach bug, cryptosporidiosis, were detected following recent educational visits to farms.

Dr Ken Lamden, consultant in health protection, said: "Animals, including farm animals, carry a range of organisms and cryptosporidium is just one, but it is particularly common at this time of the year."
continued...

Cryptosporidium causes diarrhoea and abdominal pain, but is not usually serious.

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So far, no illness identified

By Lee Sensenbrenner

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz presented a plan this morning that would speed water main replacement and said it was "likely" that Madison Water Utility Director David Denig-Chakroff would get his contract renewed.

Denig-Chakroff appeared with the mayor at a morning press conference responding to concerns about the water utility, among them that some wells in the city are pumping manganese-rich water.

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5/11/2006
To: Metro Desk, Health and Features reporters
Contact: LA County Aquatics, 866-966-7665

LOS ANGELES, May 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Even the best maintained pools can spread illness. Since 1988, Recreational Water Illnesses (RWIs) connected with swimming pool have been on the rise. Last summer the splashpad-associated outbreak of Crypto affected almost 3,000 people in Seneca Lake, N.Y. In 1998, the waterpark outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 resulted in seven children having kidney failure, and one death.

The week proceeding Memorial Day has been designated as National Recreation Water Illness Prevention Week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. LA County Aquatics will participate in this year's observance, which takes place May 22 - 29. The focus will be on operation and prevention tips for pool operators and pool patrons to encourage a healthy swimming experience.

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Water Technology Daily

05.10.2006

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - As municipalities prepare to open public pools for the summer, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) has enacted a regulation that requires recirculated water in recreational pool "spraygrounds" to be treated with ultraviolet (UV) light, according to a May 9 report in The Saratogian.

Last year, the DOH forced small-city wading pools to renovate spraygrounds after an outbreak of Cryptosporidium sickened 1,800 people who had visited Seneca Lake State Park in Geneva, NY, as reported by Water Tech OnlineÆ in August 2005.

Officials in Saratoga Springs said they will not install a separate UV disinfection system at their four sprayground areas, but they plan modifications that will spray fresh, unrecirculated water from the city system, the report said.

Because the water will not recirculate, officials will install replacement nozzles to keep water use down, the report said.

Cryptosporidium causes intestinal illness with symptoms that include diarrhea, abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever and headache.

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CHRISTOPHER DIAKOPOULOS

The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS - The Department of Public Works is working to get the city's four "spraygrounds" open for play this year, despite new regulations from the New York State Department of Health requiring an additional water treatment system.

New regulations from the state Department of Health forced the city to close its four wading pools last year and renovate them as spray fountains. But with the outbreak of the bacteria cryptosporidium last summer at Seneca Lake State Park that resulted in more than 1,800 illnesses, the DOH changed the regulations again to include ultraviolet water treatment in addition to the chlorine system the city installed last year.

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By Gwen Mickelson
Sentinel staff writer
May 5, 2006

DAVENPORT - The proverbial glass is looking half full for Davenport residents and business owners who are struggling to figure out how to find $600,000 to pay for a state-mandated -- but unfunded -- upgrade to the town's water system. Davenport school children are drinking bottled water, restaurants are looking at costly options to get their water supply up to state standards for cooking, washing dishes and serving to customers and residents could see their annual water bill jump by nearly $500 - along with a nearly $250 leap in sewer rates - as the water district gets in line with new state policy.

Davenport's water rates will skyrocket nearly 70 percent this year, the result of a state order issued last year to reduce water turbidity and filter recently-discovered health threats -- microscopic parasites giardia and cryptosporidium, as well as viruses -- from their sources of water. To do so, the Davenport County Sanitation District, a county agency that provides drinking water and sewage treatment in the town, will have to upgrade its system. And it will have to foot the more than half-million-dollar bill -- a steep price tag for an agency with only 100 connections.

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Cryptosporidium parvum -- an insidious, one-celled, waterborne parasite that lodges in the intestines of infected people and animals and for which there is currently no effective treatment -- is missing key structures normally found in similar parasites, say researchers supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health. The results of their genome sequencing project, now available in the online issue of Science, could help scientists home in on new drug targets that may lead to therapies for the disease.

C. parvum is an extremely hardy parasite found in water supplies throughout the world, including the United States. In persons with healthy immune systems, symptoms of infection include diarrhea, stomach cramps, upset stomach and fever. For persons with weakened immune systems, however, such as individuals with HIV/AIDS, symptoms may be more severe and can lead to serious or life-threatening illness. Because C. parvum could potentially be used as a bioterrorist agent, the NIAID has classified it as a Category B priority pathogen.

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The News-Banner
Opinion
May 1, 2006

Bottled water has always been a puzzle to me. Who came up with this idea? Why do Americans pay the equivalent of about $8 a gallon for something they can usually get for free down the hallway? How can a 12-oz. bottle of plain old water cost the same as or more than a Pepsi?

Can you envision that first entrepreneur approaching a group of investors or his local bank with his idea to take water, put it into 12-oz. plastic bottles, and sell it for $1 or more? Surely some thought he was nuts. But others were apparently smarter than me.

The first bottled water, at least as I recall, was all "natural spring" water or fresh from a "mountain stream." But, as a recent report revealed, much of the bottled water on the market today comes "straight out of the municipal water supply of Detroit."

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Few public sources keep up with testing regulations
By Dan Stockman

The Three Rivers Filtration Plant has had just one minor violation from the federal Environmental Protection Agency in the past five years.

More than 300,000 people in Allen County depend on clean, safe water coming out of their taps every day for drinking, cooking and cleaning, but only a small minority of public water systems have complied with water testing requirements in the last five years to ensure water quality.

Of the 101 public water sources in Allen County, 75 systems in the last five years have had at least one monitoring or reporting violation, an analysis by The Journal Gazette found. Forty-six systems have had monitoring or reporting violations the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems "significant."

Twenty-four systems had health violations, according to the EPA, meaning contaminants in the water posed an imminent health risk.

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