ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the practical introduction to waterborne diseases which are caused by the ingestion of water and which are of public health importance in the United State (US). It focuses on the sections for bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases, and acute chemical poisonings. The epidemiologic, clinical, and diagnostic laboratory features of each disease are discussed. Most reported human campylobacteriosis, and perhaps all waterborne campylobacteriosis, has been caused by Campylobacter jejuni. Within the last 10 years, C. jejuni has been recognized as one of the most common causes of human diarrhea in the US Enterotoxigenic E. coli infection is an uncommon cause of sporadic illness or outbreaks in the US Nontyphoidal salmonellosis, caused by the more than 2000 Salmonella serotypes, is a common illness, with an estimated 2 million cases a year in the US Typhoid fever, which is caused by S. typhi, is now an uncommon illness in the US.
