Cryptosporidium Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Cryptosporidium Blog

As regular readers will know, we've been following the reaction of local and state governments in Utah the likelihood that last summer's Crytosporidium outbreak will return this year.   Latest to do something is the City of Provo.  The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Provo will spend $200,000 to add high-tech equipment to fight cryptosporidium at swimming pools. 
Utah had more than 1,900 cases of crypto last year. It can spread in water contaminated with human feces and cause diarrhea and other problems. 
The ultraviolet disinfectant systems will be installed at the Veterans Memorial Pool and Waterslide Park complex and at the Provo Recreation Center. 
The equipment works by shining rays on water as it circulates through the system. It can take 24 hours to clean a pool, and there still can be some water that doesn't pass through the system. 
Salt Lake County is trying a similar strategy.

Find the story here.

Check out the comments there too.  Someone is suggesting Provo start taxing diapers to pay for  the improvements!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Cryptosporidium parvum (also known as "Crypto") is a parasite that is too small to be seen with the naked eye. It is found in water and food sources contaminated with the feces of infected humans, cattle, and other mammals. The infectious form of the parasite, known as an ìoocyst, it is highly resistant to the levels of chlorine normally found in drinking water and swimming pools.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

After the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention released the 2007 FoodNet data, most of the stories that were written focused on the fact that there was little change in the incidents of food-borne illnesses in 45-million person study area.

There was, however,  one exception.   The parasite Cryptosporidium, for which the estimated incidence of infections was up 44 percent compared with the 2004-06 period, the CDC said.

Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC's Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, said new treatment for the parasite infection might be causing doctors to order more tests for it.

Tauxe said the increase in Cryptosporidium cases may reflect increased diagnostic testing triggered by the licensing of a new treatment, nitazoxanide.    "There wasn't a compelling reason to get a test done in the past. Now it's something they [physicians] can treat," he said.

On the other hand, there might be just a lot more of the parasite out there.   The Foodnet area includes Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, and Tennessee, plus parts of California, Colorado, and New York.  Cypto outbreaks have been commonplace, especially involving water parks and public swimming pools.

FoodNet counted 1,216 cases of Cryptosporidium in the study area during 2007, or  2.67 per 100,000.  Since the study area represents 15 percent of the total population in the United States, FoodNet suggests there might have been more than 8,100 Cryto cases in the entire country last year.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

KOAA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, tonight (4/9/08) is reporting that parasites have been found in Alamosa's water.  KOAA reports that:

Residents of Alamosa hoped that this was the day they'd get the all-clear on their municipal water supply. No such luck. New problems have been  found.

The Colorado Department of Health informed the city that a water sample taken before the system was flushed contained two different parasites -- Giardia and Cryptosporidium.  Both can cause diarrhea. The water tests were performed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Investigators from the CDC were in Alamosa to investigate reports that several hundred people contracted salmonella  The salmonella was traced to the municipal water supply, but officials were unsuccessful in tracing how the bacteria got into the water. The contaminated water was identified three weeks ago today, when residents were told to completely stop using the water.

Alamosa remains on a "boiled water" order.   The number of people who've gotten sick has reached 389 with 107 culture confirmed cases of salmonella.   Sixteen people required hospitalization, but none died and all have been released.  For the KOAA story, go here.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link