INTRODUCTION Human infection with the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium causes the gastrointestinal disease cryptosporidiosis. Of the 25 or so species currently recognised, 15 have so far been reported in humans, of which some are established as human pathogens: C. parvum, C. hominis (which are the most commonly detected species in human cryptosporidiosis worldwide) and C. meleagridis are supp...

Juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) maintained on either low sodium chloride (LS (control), 1.4% NaCl) or high sodium chloride (HS, 11% NaCl) diet were exposed to 55 μg·L–1 waterborne copper (Cu) for 28 days. Cu-exposed fish maintained on the LS diet exhibited 26% mortality, more than double (11%) that in fish maintained on the HS diet. Waterborne Cu exposure inhibited growth by 56% in...

Waterborne illness related to the consumption of contaminated or inadequately treated water is a global public health concern. Although the magnitude of drinking water-related illnesses in developed countries is lower than that observed in developing regions of the world, drinking water is still responsible for a proportion of all cases of acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) in Canada. The est...

Reports of case-studies as well as estimates of disease in local and regional populations provide us with patterns of disease that are subject to a variety of local environmental, societal, and biological influences. Environmental conditions are significantly influenced in turn by climate and human activities. All of these influences can be highly variable, resulting in very different patterns ...

Waterborne zinc (Zn) is known to cause toxicity to freshwater animals primarily by disrupting calcium (Ca) homeostasis during acute exposure, but its effects in marine and estuarine animals are not well characterized. The present study investigated the effects of salinity on short-term Zn accumulation and sub-lethal toxicity in the euryhaline green shore crab, Carcinus maenas. The kinetic and p...

A targeted review of documented waterborne disease outbreaks over the past decades reveals some recurring themes that should be understood by drinking-water suppliers. Evidence indicates the outbreaks are often linked to some significant change in conditions that provides a sudden challenge to a water system. Severe weather events, such as heavy rainfall or runoff from snow melt, as well as tre...

Global climate change is expected to affect the frequency, intensity and duration of extreme water-related weather events such as excessive precipitation, floods, and drought. We conducted a systematic review to examine waterborne outbreaks following such events and explored their distribution between the different types of extreme water-related weather events. Four medical and meteorological d...

A rationally based procedure has long been needed for assigning design adjustments to Southern Pine lumber treated with waterborne preservative. This paper attempts to develop such a procedure by evaluating a series of models to predict the short-term effects of waterborne preservative treatments on the strength of U.S. Southern Pine lumber. Input data consisted of non-parametric treated to unt...

Syndromic surveillance is the gathering of data for public health purposes before laboratory or clinically confirmed information is available. Interest in syndromic surveillance has increased because of concerns about bioterrorism. In addition to bioterrorism detection, syndromic surveillance may be suited to detecting waterborne disease outbreaks. Theoretical benefits of syndromic surveillance...