Meinhardt Patricia L
Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Arnot Ogden Medical Center, 600 Ivy Street, Suite 106, Elmira, New York 14905, USA.
J Water Health. 2006;4 Suppl 1:27-34.
Preservation of water quality and prevention of waterborne disease is a complicated task requiring a coordinated effort from many diverse disciplines including physicians, healthcare providers, epidemiologists, microbiologists, academic scientists, science researchers, local and national health authorities, public and environmental health specialists, water engineers and water purveyors. Any successful strategy to ensure water quality and safety in the United States must include the medical community as a valued stakeholder and active participant in this ongoing public health challenge. Unfortunately, the majority of practicing healthcare providers in the US has received limited training in the recognition and evaluation of water-related disease and faces many significant challenges and numerous barriers to diagnosing waterborne disease and the health effects of water pollution in their patients. The purpose of this review is to define the specific challenges facing the medical community with regard to clinical recognition of water-related disease and to provide recommendations for the development of specialized clinical resources and targeted educational outreach programs to assist the medical community in improving their ability to appropriately address water-related disease in their patients.
水质保护和水传播疾病的预防是一项复杂的任务，需要许多不同学科的协同努力，这些学科包括医生、医疗保健提供者、流行病学家、微生物学家、学术科学家、科研人员、地方和国家卫生当局、公共卫生与环境卫生专家、水工程师和供水商。在美国，任何确保水质和安全的成功战略都必须将医学界视为重要的利益相关者，并让其积极参与到这场持续的公共卫生挑战中。不幸的是，美国大多数执业医疗保健提供者在识别和评估与水相关疾病方面接受的培训有限，在诊断患者的水传播疾病以及水污染对健康的影响时面临许多重大挑战和诸多障碍。本综述的目的是明确医学界在临床识别与水相关疾病方面面临的具体挑战，并为开发专门的临床资源和有针对性的教育推广项目提供建议，以帮助医学界提高妥善处理患者与水相关疾病的能力。
