
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 25, 1993                   TAG: 9304250026
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MILWAUKEE                                LENGTH: Short

WATER PARASITE FACTOR IN 1 MILWAUKEE DEATH

Nine people who died since March 15 were infected by a parasite that contaminated municipal water, but only one of the deaths was directly linked to the germ, officials said.

As Milwaukee officials tried to determine how the parasite cryptosporidium survived treatment of water drawn from Lake Michigan, residents of Sheboygan, 55 miles to the north, were advised to boil their water.

The state Department of Natural Resources said there was no sign of cryptosporidia in Sheboygan's water, which also comes from the lake and serves about 48,000 people.

But the department said Sheboygan's treated water was unusually cloudy, as was water at a Milwaukee treatment plant about the time cryptosporidia may have invaded in March.

Among the nine Milwaukee deaths, only the death of a 71-year-old woman who had a heart condition that was "relatively stable" could be linked directly to cryptosporidiosis, said Thomas Schlenker, Milwaukee's Health Department medical director.

Diarrhea caused by the parasite dehydrated her, sending her to a hospital, and "did play a contributory role in [her] death," Schlenker said.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB