News | College of Public Health

WET Trial enters next phase of study investigating rates of well water illness

Thousands of families in the counties surrounding Philadelphia get their household water from private wells. Environmental regulations protect public drinking water systems, but public safeguards don’t apply to these privately owned wells, where water quality testing is the responsibility of individual owners and the prevalence of waterborne diseases can threaten residents’ health. A new study by Temple University’s College of Public Health aims to explore illness-causing microbes in residential well water in six counties around Philadelphia. The $3.6 million study, calle...

Water

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Research

Environment

Can Coronavirus spread through defective bathroom sewage pipes?

As part of the college's coverage of the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), we're reprinting a recent article written for the Water Quality & Health Council by Heather Murphy, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Barbara Soule, an infection preventionist consultant, that discusses the potential spread of COVID-19 through improperly connected bathroom sewage pipes. On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the disease that is causing the 2019 coronavirus epidemic, COVID-1...

Coronavirus

Water

Environment

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

WET Trial explores rates of illness from drinking untreated private well water

Nationwide, approximately 48 million people use private wells, including nearly 3 million in Pennsylvania. The water quality from these largely untreated wells is not federally regulated, and there have been few studies on both the extent and the source of microbial contamination in private wells. In a new randomized controlled trial, Heather Murphy, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, will research the effects of drinking untreated well water on children ages three or under—effects that include gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms from norovirus, Gi...

Water

Environment

Community

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

College to study local PFAS contamination, cancer data

Temple University’s College of Public Health will examine possible associations between PFAS-contaminated drinking water and cancer as part of a federally funded multisite health study to understand the health effects of exposure to PFAS chemicals in drinking water. Temple’s study of PFAS and cancer expands upon its participation in a broader study that is in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and RTI International and focused in Bucks and Montgomery counties. This work is part of a national effort newly announced by the Centers for Disease Control an...

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Water

Hoping to improve sanitation worldwide, Murphy receives college’s first Gates Foundation grant

The UN estimates that, by 2050, one in four people will live in a country with shortages of fresh water. As it is now, nearly 2 billion people use water sources that are contaminated with fecal matter. The situation is dire: More children die from diarrheal diseases than higher-profile illnesses such as malaria. More than 80 percent of these deaths are attributable to unsafe water, which also contributes to stunted growth, malnutrition, and decreases in education or, for workers, productivity. Whether due to untreated water or lack of access to a latrine, poor sanitation impact...

Water

Epidemiology and Biostatistics