[Waterborne outbreaks in Norway 2003-2012].

Background: We describe the status of waterborne outbreaks notified in Norway and discuss this in the context of outbreaks recorded in previous years, to gain a better understanding of their development in Norway in recent years.

Material And Method: We have collected information on all outbreaks notified to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health via the surveillance system for communicable diseases in the ten-year period from 2003-2012 for which drinking water was given as the suspected cause.

Results: Altogether 28 waterborne outbreaks with a total of 8,060 persons reported as ill were notified in the period.

Investigation of an Escherichia coli O145 outbreak in a child day-care centre--extensive sampling and characterization of eae- and stx1-positive E. coli yields epidemiological and socioeconomic insight.

Background: On October 29th 2009 the health authorities in the city of Trondheim, Norway were alerted about a case of Shiga toxin-positive E. coli (STEC) O145 in a child with bloody diarrhoea attending a day-care centre. Symptomatic children in this day-care centre were sampled, thereby identifying three more cases.

Breaks and maintenance work in the water distribution systems and gastrointestinal illness: a cohort study.

Background: During maintenance work or breaks on the water distribution system, water pressure occasionally will be reduced. This may lead to intrusion of polluted water-either at the place of repair or through cracks or leaks elsewhere in the distribution system. The objective of this study was to assess whether breaks or maintenance work in the water distribution system with presumed loss of water pressure was associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal illness among recipients.

[An outbreak of giardiasis in a child day-care centre in Trondheim].

Background: The prevalence of Giardia in Norway is considered to be low, but the infection is probably under-diagnosed. In other countries, child day-care centres have turned out to be major sites of Giardiasis contamination and outbreaks. We report the first giardiasis-outbreak registered in Norway.

Factors associated with increased and decreased risk of Campylobacter infection: a prospective case-control study in Norway.

In 1999-2000, a prospective case-control study of sporadic, domestically acquired campylobacteriosis was conducted in three counties in Norway to identify preventable risk factors and potentially protective factors. A total of 212 cases and 422 population controls matched by age, sex, and geographic area were enrolled. In conditional logistic regression analysis, the following factors were found to be independently associated with an increased risk of Campylobacter infection: drinking undisinfected water, eating at barbecues, eating poultry bought raw, having occupational exposure to animals, and eating undercooked pork.