Drinking Water Quality and the Geospatial Distribution of Notified Gastro-Intestinal Infections

INTRODUCTION: Even brief episodes of fecal contamination of drinking water can lead directly to illness in the consumers. In water-borne outbreaks, the connection between poor microbial water quality and disease can be quickly identified. The impact of non-compliant drinking water samples due to E. coli taken for regular monitoring on the incidence of notified acute gastrointestinal infections has not yet been studied. METHODS: The objective of this study was to analyse the geographical distribution of notified acute gastrointestinal infections (AGI) in Slovenia in 2010, with hotspot identification. The second aim of the study was to correlate the fecal contamination of water supply system on the settlement level with the distribution of notified AGI cases. Spatial analysis using geo-information technology and other methods were used. RESULTS: Hot spots with the highest proportion of notified AGI cases were mainly identified in areas with small supply zones. The risk for getting AGI was drinking water contaminated with E. coli from supply zones with 50–1000 users: RR was 1.25 and significantly greater than one (p-value less than 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study showed the correlation between the frequency of notified AGI cases and non-compliant results in drinking water monitoring.