Swimming and diarrhea just don’t mix. If you have diarrhea, stay out of the pool while you are sick – and for two weeks after you feel better.
That’s the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control, which says that reported rates of the water-borne intestinal parasite, Cryptosporidium, have doubled in the last two years.
Although Crypto (for short) isn’t new, there’s been an unexplained spike in cases reported. The parasite is the most common cause of diarrheal illness. Swimming pools and water parks can spread the illness when someone who is sick with the parasite – or was recently sick – goes for a swim. Even ingesting a tiny amount of that pool water can lead to illness.
“The primary prevention is to keep the water out of your mouth; if you don’t drink it, it won’t cause significant problems and that’s something kids need to understand,” said Dr. John LaCount, pediatrician with St. Elizabeth Physicians’ Florence office. “We don’t drink pool water because it can be infected with a variety of pathogens and until kids are old enough to understand why we don’t drink the water, they probably shouldn’t be in a public pool.”
Dr. LaCount also suggests being aware of the possibility of getting sick from water in a stream or lake and telling kids to keep that water out their mouths.
Crypto isn’t easily killed by normal chlorine use and it can survive for up to 10 days in properly treated water. In an outbreak, the CDC recommends pools be closed and treated with high levels of chlorine.
“To help protect your family and friends from Crypto and other diarrhea-causing germs, do not swim or let your kids swim if sick with diarrhea,” said Michele Hlavsa, R.N., M.P.H., chief of CDC’s Healthy Swimming Program.
Ohio was one of three states last year that experienced an outbreak of Crypto. Ohio identified 1,940 people sick with Crypto in 2016, compared with no more than 571 cases for any one year in 2012″“2015.
In Northern Kentucky, there were 6 cases reported in 2016. The last outbreak of Crypto was in 2011, with 130 cases reported, but Northern Kentucky Health Department officials continue to monitor any unusual activity.
The CDC recommends these steps to avoid the spread of Crypto:
- Don’t swim or let your kids swim if sick with diarrhea.
- If diarrhea is caused by Crypto, wait two weeks to go swimming after diarrhea has stopped.
- Don’t swallow the water in which you swim.
- Rinse off in the shower before getting in the water to help remove any germs on your body that could contaminate the water.
- Take kids on bathroom breaks often, and check diapers in a diaper-changing area and not right next to the pool.
- Be sure to wash your hands after using the bathroom and before eating while at the pool