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Wells and Enteric Disease Transmission Trial (WET - Trial)

NCT04258059 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 28

Last updated 2025-09-09

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Approximately 40 million people in the US are served by private wells, many of which are untreated. The investigators estimate that 1.29 million cases of gastrointestinal illness (GI) per year are attributed to consuming water from untreated private wells in the US. These cases of GI can cause a significant burden in terms of health care costs and lost work/school days, as well as increased risk to developing longer term health complications. This impact is magnified when accounting for vulnerable populations such as children under the age of 5, the elderly and the immunocompromised. The investigators are preparing to conduct the first household randomized controlled trial (RCT) to investigate whether consuming well water treated by ultraviolet light (UV) compared to consuming untreated private well water decreases the incidence of self-reported gastrointestinal illness and respiratory infections in children under 5. The investigators will collect illness symptom data using a combination of weekly text messages and online illness questionnaires.

Conditions

  • Gastrointestinal Infection
  • Respiratory Viral Infection

Interventions

DEVICE

Active household UV water treatment device

This point-of-entry treatment device will use germicidal UV to treat all of the well water used in the home.

DEVICE

Inactive household UV water treatment device

This sham device will use a lamp not emitting germicidal UV.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Pennsylvania Department of Health

    collaborator OTHER_GOV

  • Temple University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Heather Murphy, PhD · Assistant Professor

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
TRIPLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
6 Months
Max Age
59 Months
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2020-06-30
Primary Completion
2022-05-01
Completion
2022-05-01

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04258059 on ClinicalTrials.gov