Compliance with advice to boil drinking water during an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis. Outbreak Investigation Team

All 2000 employees of a hospital in an area of the North Thames region where 300,000 households were advised to boil tap water before consumption during a large outbreak of cryptosporidiosis were surveyed about compliance with and adverse events linked to the boil water notice. Eighty-five per cent (408/479) of respondents who lived in the boil water area said that they used boiled water while the notice was in place, 72% (347) used bottled water, and 12% (59) did not continue to boil water for the whole 16 days. Although 88% believed that they were following the advice, 20% washed food that would be eaten raw in unboiled tap water and 57% used it to clean their teeth. If a boil water notice is applied for more than a few days it may be helpful to issue a detailed follow up letter.