[Born Conservative]

Great reporting; the story first says that they urinated in the water tank, then it says that they "relieved themselves" in the tank, and then that the water was tested for E. Coli and other harmful bacteria.

If they HAD only urinated in the tank, there would be no concern for E. Coli or other bacteria, since urine is sterile. They obviously defecated in the tank. Stoopid reporter....

[MedicalMess]

"If they HAD only urinated in the tank, there would be no concern for E. Coli or other bacteria, since urine is sterile. "

Absolutely entirely FALSE! The number one cause of urinary tract infections is E. coli for which there is a really nasty drug-resistant strain running around the US. There are any number of other infections in the urinary tracts a people. Chlamydia Trachomatis (sexually transmitted) can be spread to the respiratory tract by ingestion. The list of infections that thrive in urine is incredibly long and would require several months of research just to find the bulk of know sources.

As an example:

J Infect. 1998 Mar;36(2):244-5. The nPCR detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydia trachomatis in children hospitalized for bronchiolitis.

Khan MA, Potter CW.

Department of Medical Microbiology, Medical School, University of Sheffield, U.K.

Nasopharyngeal aspirates from children admitted with the diagnosis of bronchiolitis, were screened for Chlamydia pneumoniae, and C. trachomatis. The nested PCR was found to be more sensitive that amplified the DNA extracts of up to two elementary bodies of the test strains. Using this technique, C. pneumoniae was detected in two (1.3%), and C. trachomatis in 26 17.1%) of the 152 samples tested. This study indicated C. pneumoniae infections to be unusual in children with bronchiolitis.

PMID: 8945706 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[rock58seg]

Not neccessarily! Part of the Standard water test is for e-coli. It is an indicator organism. Stands to reason that if someone has contaminated the water in any way, you run the full gamut of tests.