An outbreak of acute gastroenteritis occurred during January 4-9, 1982, in a rural community in north Georgia. A systematic telephone survey revealed that 63% of persons living in homes served by the community water system had symptoms of acute gastroenteritis in contrast to 9% of persons in homes served by private wells or other sources (P less than .001). A fourfold rise in antibody titer to the Norwalk virus occurred in 20 of 22 serum pairs obtained from ill persons. Fecal coliforms (greater than 16 MPN/100 ml) were detected in a spring which served as one water source for the community system. Surface runoff from a heavy rainfall, which preceded the outbreak, may have contaminated the system. Outbreaks of gastroenteritis should be promptly reported and investigated to facilitate corrective measures and to identify causative agents such as Norwalk virus.
A serosurvey for antibodies to Legionella pneumophila was conducted among 206 employees of a power-generating plant. L. pneumophila serotype 6 and a non-typable L. pneumophila organism were isolated from cooling-tower water specimens at the plant, and antibody titers in workers were measured using homologous antigens prepared from these isolates. For the serotype 6 water isolate, none of workers with low cooling tower exposure, 4.6% with intermediate exposure, and 7.6% with high exposure levels had titers equal to or greater than 1:128 (P less than .05, Kruskal-Wallis test). For the non-typable L. pneumophila isolate, a similar trend was observed, but differences among workers in the three exposure groups were not statistically significant. No association was observed between antibodies to L. pneumophila serotypes isolated from cooling water and workers' age, race, smoking status, or duration of job assignment. None of the study employees had findings suggesting the occurrence of L. pneumophila pneumonia since the plant had been in operation. Use of respiratory protection devices by workers exposed to aerosols from cooling towers was not recommended.
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