(BETA) News Briefs: Transmission of Parasite in San Francisco Drinking Water?


(BETA) News Briefs: Transmission of Parasite in San Francisco Drinking Water?

Bulletin of Experimental Treatments for AIDS, No. 26 September 1995
Ronald Baker, PhD

Cryptosporidiosis, a disease caused by a parasitic infection, is an AIDS-defining condition in people with HIV infection. With more than 500 cases of cryptosporidiosis in the past 6 years, the disease has become a significant public health problem in San Francisco. There have been concerns, resulting in public hearings, that the public water supply in San Francisco is a major source of the infection. The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) conducted a study to determine whether water filtration (or lack of it) plays a role in spreading the disease among immunocompromised residents of the city.

An SFDPH bulletin on the situation concludes that the combination of consistently very low levels of oocysts (egg cysts) in the public water supply and the findings of this [SFDPH] study suggest that it is unlikely that San Francisco water is a significant source of the cryptosporidiosis in the city. It is reasonable to postulate that sexual transmission is the most common mode for transmission of cryptosporidiosis in San Francisco. Measures to protect against this route of infection are probably much more important to prevent cryptosporidiosis than efforts to boil or filter San Francisco tap water.

Two government agencies in June 1995 said that drinking tap water could kill Americans with weakened immune systems and suggested that they may want to boil water before drinking it. "We do not know if the level of cryptosporidium in the water is a public health threat, but we cannot rule out that there will be a low level of transmission of the parasite to people who drink tap water," said Dennis Juranek of the division of parasitic diseases at the CDC. The new guidelines from the CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency stop short of recommending that immunocompromised individuals avoid drinking tap water. For more information on cryptosporidium and water supplies, see pages 20-24 in the December 1994 issue of BETA.


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Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeard in 1995. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1995. AEGIS.