MWD Patents Faster Way to Detect Dangerous Microorganism in Water
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California this week received a patent for a new test for detecting Cryptosporidium parvum, a microorganism that produces serious, often fatal illness. Cryptosporidium in July contaminated the water supply of Sydney, Australia, and water from wells in Austin, Texas, after a sewage spill.
The new test, developed by microbiologists Ricardo De Leon and Paul Rochelle of the MWD, reduces the time required for identifying C. parvum from one week to one day. It will be made available to other water suppliers as soon as possible, an MWD spokesman said.
Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II
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