Norwalk Gastroenteritis Associated with a Water System in a Rural Georgia Community

Abstract

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.

Untangling the Impacts of Climate Change on Waterborne Diseases: a Systematic Review of Relationships between Diarrheal Diseases and Temperature, Rainfall, Flooding, and Drought

“…We identified 31 articles describing the relationship between heavy rainfall and diarrhea that met our inclusion criteria, including 10 articles with a total of 14 statistical analyses, and 18 studies reporting on an outbreak following a heavy rainfall event (Tables S2a − ,,,,,,− and S2b − ). These articles included data collected between 1910 and 2009.…”

“…Our search also resulted in several studies reporting on outbreak investigations, ranging in size from just a few cases up to hundreds of thousands, again from a range of settings (Turkey, UK, ,, Canada, ,, USA, ,,,, Japan, and Swaziland), citing heavy rainfall immediately preceding the outbreak as a presumptive cause of contamination of water supplies.…”

Waterborne gastroenteritis outbreak at a scouting camp caused by two norovirus genogroups: GI and GII

“…These water supplies have been described as the source of waterborne norovirus gastroenteritis outbreaks, due to fecal contamination of the water systems. [5][6][7][33][34][35][36] Camp staff should be aware of this risk. Measures like using bottled water or boiling the water before utilization could prevent outbreaks.…”

A diagnostic EIA for detection of the prevalent SRSV strain in United Kingdom outbreaks of gastroenteritis

“…In semi-closed communities, most notably hospitals and residential homes for the elderly, outbreaks can involve both patients and staff, with consequent management problems caused by ward closures [Adak et al, 1991;Jiang et al, 1996;Dedman et al, 1998]. Community outbreaks caused by contaminated water [Goodman et al, 1982;Gray et al, 1997] or food [Riordan et al, 1984;Andersen et al, 1996] have also been reported and the financial consequences can be measured in lost working days. In the leisure industry, cruise ships and holiday centres provide further examples of "captive audiences" in that viral spread is facilitated [McAnulty et al, 1993;Koo et al, 1996;McEvoy et al, 1996].…”