Bartholomew Nadia, Brunton Cheryl, Mitchell Peter, Williamson Judy, Gilpin Brent
Community and Public Health, Canterbury District Health Board, 310 Manchester Street, PO Box 1475, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand E-mail:
The Institute of Environmental Science and Research, PO Box 29-181, Fendalton, Christchurch 8540, New Zealand.
J Water Health. 2014 Sep;12(3):555-63. doi: 10.2166/wh.2014.155.
Outbreaks of waterborne gastroenteritis continue to occur in developed countries. Darfield, a rural town in the South Island of New Zealand experienced an outbreak of campylobacteriosis following a transgression of Escherichia coli on 16 August 2012. A descriptive outbreak investigation was performed. As a result, 29 cases had a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of campylobacteriosis and 138 were identified as probable cases. Heavy rains, contamination of water with animal effluent from nearby paddocks and failures in the treatment of drinking water led to pathogens being distributed through the town's water supply. A multi-barrier approach is advocated to ensure the quality of water and many countries have legislation or programmes to address this. Although legislation for water safety plans based on a multi-barrier approach is in place in New Zealand, at the time of the outbreak it was not a requirement for the Darfield water supply. In addition, despite the awareness of the importance of a multi-barrier approach, competing interests, including those from the agricultural industry and financial restraints on water suppliers, can prevent it from being implemented. Governments need to be more willing to enforce legislation and standards to protect the public from waterborne disease.
发达国家仍不断爆发水源性肠胃炎疫情。2012年8月16日，新西兰南岛的一个乡村小镇达尔菲尔德因大肠杆菌超标，爆发了弯曲杆菌病疫情。开展了一次描述性疫情调查。结果显示，29例经实验室确诊为弯曲杆菌病，另有138例被确定为疑似病例。暴雨、附近牧场的动物粪便污染水源以及饮用水处理故障导致病原体通过该镇的供水系统传播。提倡采用多屏障方法来确保水质，许多国家都有相关立法或计划来解决这一问题。尽管新西兰已出台基于多屏障方法的水安全计划立法，但在疫情爆发时，达尔菲尔德供水系统并不需要遵循该要求。此外，尽管人们意识到多屏障方法的重要性，但包括农业行业利益以及水供应商面临的资金限制等相互冲突的利益，可能会阻碍该方法的实施。政府需要更愿意执行立法和标准，以保护公众免受水源性疾病的侵害。
