1887. Estimating the Burden of Waterborne Disease in the United States

Abstract

BackgroundTreatment of drinking water is one of the greatest US public health achievements of the twentieth century and provides a safe, reliable water supply. However, waterborne disease and outbreaks continue to occur, and are associated with a variety of water sources and exposure routes. New estimates of the burden of waterborne disease in the United States will direct prevention activities and set public health goals.MethodsWe chose 17 waterborne diseases for which domestic waterborne transmission was plausible, substantial burden of illness or death was likely, and data were available. Diseases included were campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, Legionnaires’ disease, norovirus infection, nontuberculous mycobacteria [NTM] infection, otitis externa, Pseudomonas pneumonia and septicemia, salmonellosis, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection, shigellosis, and vibriosis. Adapting previously used methods, disease-specific multipliers were used to adjust the reported/documented number of cases of each disease for under-reporting, under-diagnosis, proportion domestically acquired, and proportion transmitted via water, to generate point estimates with 95% credible intervals (CrI). Data sources included surveillance data, population studies, and expert judgment if no other data were available. We estimated the number of illnesses, ED visits, hospitalizations, and deaths, and costs of ED visits and hospitalizations due to waterborne disease in the United States in 2014.Results7.2 million waterborne illnesses (CrI 3.9–12.0 million) from the selected diseases occur annually, including 600,000 (CrI 365,000–865,000) ED visits, 120,000 (CrI 85,000–150,000) hospitalizations, and 6,500 deaths (CrI 4,300–8,900) deaths, incurring US$3.2 billion (2014 dollars) in direct healthcare costs. Hospitalizations and deaths were predominantly caused by environmental pathogens commonly associated with biofilm in plumbing systems (NTM, Pseudomonas, Legionella) costing US$2 billion annually.ConclusionMillions of domestically acquired waterborne illnesses from these 17 infections occur in the United States each year, and incur billions of dollars in healthcare costs.Disclosures All Authors: No reported Disclosures.