Warning given on water disease

Press, 6 October 1988, Page 45

Warning given on water disease

PA Palmerston North Giardiasis, a disease in the water supply in Linton, near Palmerston North, may be spreading, could become an epidemic and should be researched immediately, says Dr Tim Brown, of Massey University. Dr Brown, who fought to control amoebic meningitis in the last two decades, wants $270,000 to fund a five-year research programme into giardiasis. Little was known about the disease but it had become widespread in the United States and should not be treated lightly, he said.

Dr Brown was part of a research team which in the 1970 s alerted New Zealanders to the threat of amoebic meningitis.

He said this disease initially had not been treated as a serious threat but research work by scientists and a public

awareness campaign had worked to control its spread. “At first, people said to us, ‘Why do all this research — only a few people have got the disease.’ But the point is we did not know how widespread it would become and the fact that only a few people got it means that we were successful,” he said. Giardiasis was not fatal, as was the case with meningitis, but it was debilitating and sufferers could be infected more than once.

The disease was caused by the parasite, giardia. The organisms coated the lining of the intestines, affecting food absorption. People who had the disease experienced abdominal cramps, weight loss, nausea, diarrhoea and flatulence and could take several weeks to recover, he said. Scientists believed giardia lived in water and were spread through

faeces coming into contact with drinking water. They also suspected it might be spread by animals. At least four people in the Linton area had contracted giardiasis in the last year. Health officials declined to say exactly how many cases had been reported and the Manawatu District Council has warned residents not to drink unboiled water until the possibility of giardia being in the Fitzherbert west water supply had been checked. Dr Brown, who has studied giardia for the last two years, said the Linton cases were only “the tip of the iceberg”. Giardiasis was not a notifiable disease and so the Health Department did not know how many cases there had been. Many people could get the disease without developing symptoms, he said.