Signs warn people of the contaminated ocean water in Imperial Beach on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The water in the area has been contaminated for years from the Tijuana River sewage. The state has reaffirmed that the cross-border sewage crisis does not warrant an emergency declaration. And it has agreed with San Diego County that there is no evidence of increased pollution-related diseases.
Dr. Seema Shah, medical director of the county’s epidemiology and immunization services branch, specifically enlisted the help of the NCEH’s Emerging Environmental Hazards and Health Effects division. It’s one of NCEH’s five branches and provides expertise in epidemiology and medical toxicology to investigate outbreaks.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s former public health director, issued the first formal step in May at the direction of county Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas when she asked the state public health department to “make an official request to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to deploy a liaison to San Diego County to further investigate these concerns.”
The county requested Epi-Aids last year for a Legionella outbreak and in 2022 for an outbreak of Burkholderia multivorans, an emerging cause of meningitis. A short-term investigation might miss “active outbreaks” potentially happening outside of the probe’s window. Some San Diego researchers and elected officials made a similar argument when a county investigation in February showed “no conclusive evidence” of increased illness at a South Bay health clinic. They questioned whether the two-week analysis was sufficient to deduce that people who do not come into contact with polluted water cannot get sick.
In a June 27 letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Aguirre said the state agreeing with the county’s conclusion of finding no evidence of increased infectious diseases “does not fully address the broader spectrum of public health concerns, including long-term exposure to pollutants and the cumulative effects on community health.”
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