ArticleBMC public health2017
Early outbreak detection by linking health advice line calls to water distribution areas retrospectively demonstrated in a large waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Sweden.
Article in BMC public health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The effectiveness of syndromic surveillance for the early detection of waterborne outbreaks: a systematic review.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Pooled it
- Burden of gastrointestinal illness in Sweden-SMS as a tool for collecting self-reported gastrointestinal illness.Epidemiology and infection · 2019Trial
- Prevalence, molecular species, and associated factors for Cryptosporidium infection among dairy-farm workers and HIV-positive individuals in central Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Time series anomaly detection in helpline call trends for early detection of COVID-19 spread across Sweden, 2020.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- ConcurrentEuro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- Article
- Outbreak of the novelEpidemiology and infection · 2024Article
- Comparing healthcare needs by language: interpreted Arabic and Somali telehealth calls in two regions of Sweden, 2014-18.European journal of public health · 2024Article
- Cryptosporidium species and subtypes identified in human domestic cases through the national microbiological surveillance programme in Sweden from 2018 to 2022.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- The amount of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater relates to the development of the pandemic and its burden on the health system.iScience · 2022Article
- High Diversity ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Risk assessment of parasites in Norwegian drinking water: opportunities and challenges.Food and waterborne parasitology · 2021Article
- The role of biofilm in the development and dissemination of ubiquitous pathogens in drinking water distribution systems: an overview of surveillance, outbreaks, and prevention.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2021Review
- Large waterborneEuro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn the winter and spring of 2011 a large outbreak of cryptosporidiosis occurred in Skellefteå municipality, Sweden. This study summarizes the outbreak investigation in terms of outbreak size, duration, clinical characteristics, possible source(s) and the potential for earlier detection using calls to a health advice line.
methodsThe investigation included two epidemiological questionnaires and microbial analysis of samples from patients, water and other environmental sources. In addition, a retrospective study based on phone calls to a health advice line was performed by comparing patterns of phone calls between different water distribution areas.
resultsOur analyses showed that approximately 18,500 individuals were affected by a waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Skellefteå in 2011. This makes it the second largest outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Europe to date. Cryptosporidium hominis oocysts of subtype IbA10G2 were found in patient and sewage samples, but not in raw water or in drinking water, and the initial contamination source could not be determined. The outbreak went unnoticed to authorities for several months. The analysis of the calls to the health advice line provides strong indications early in the outbreak that it was linked to a particular water treatment plant.
conclusionsWe conclude that an earlier detection of the outbreak by linking calls to a health advice line to water distribution areas could have limited the outbreak substantially.
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