HEALTH COACH - Parasite Pool: Swimmers are advised to take simple steps to avoid Cryptosporidium - Health

HEALTH COACH -

 Parasite Pool: Swimmers are advised to take simple steps to avoid Cryptosporidium - Health  

 Before diving into a swimming pool or lake this long weekend, take precautions against stomach pests that can hide in the water, according to public health officials. 
 Ingestion of a mouthful of water contaminated with the Cryptosporidium parasite or Crypto can make people in good health sick for up to three weeks with watery diarrhea, Stomach, nausea or vomiting and can lead to dehydration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. 
 The risk of infection comes mainly from fecal contamination of water. 
 It is located in a swimming pool, a hot tub, a water park and a ceiling lamp or in the natural beauty of lakes, rivers or oceans. 
 Crypto emerged as the most common cause of diarrhea epidemics related to swimming pools or playgrounds in the United States 
 Filtering the pool water and adding chlorine, salt and other disinfectants usually control harmful germs. But the resistant Crypto can survive more than a week in water properly treated, says the CDC. 
 Cryptosporidiosis became a reportable disease in Canada in 2000. Since then, the number of reported cases ranged from 587 per year to more than 1,700 in 2001. 
 In 2001, hundreds of people in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, became ill after their drinking water was contaminated with the Cryptosporidium parasite. 

 In Canada, serious eruptions related to the pool have been rare, researchers said in 2014. But there have been epidemics, related to factors such as pool elimination, Poor education and training and lack of disinfection equipment, said. 
 How to protect yourself 
 This is why the CDC recommends closing the pools and treating the water with high levels of chlorine in response to a water diarrheal incident or a crypto outbreak. 

 "Diarrhea and swimming do not mix" is the theme of the agency for National Safe and Healthy Swimming Week, which will be held May 22-28 in the US 
  The CDC offered some tips to protect themselves, including:  
 
 Do not go swimming or let your kids swim so sick with diarrhea. 
 "Protect yourself from your harm from not swallowing the water in which you swim," said Michele Hlavsa, head of the CDC Health Swimming Program. 
 Rinse in the shower before entering the water. 
 Take the kids on the frequent bathroom breaks and only check the layers in a diaper area - not just next to the pool. 
 
 Other germs such as norovirus, E. coli bacteria and parasite giardia can also end up in the water that has been fouled. 
 It is often difficult to directly link disease outbreaks with pool water, as evidence is usually circumstantial, according to the World Health Organization. Detective work involves researching a pattern between the swimmer's symptoms and their last swim. 
 The US Public Health Authority said that at least 32 Crypto epidemics were linked to swimming pools or water games in 2016 compared to 16 in 2014, according to The preliminary data. 

 "Not swimming when sick with diarrhea is the key to preventing and controlling outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis associated with aquatic facilities," the authors said. 
 It is unclear whether the number of outbreaks actually increased if better surveillance and the introduction of DNA - based tools increase detection, said the CDC in A report. 
 The DNA-based tool identified Crypto species involved in epidemics last year in Alabama, Ohio and Arizona. Researchers hope to better identify Crypto's transmission chains when epidemics occur to help people continue to make a healthy pool. 

 [Public Health Agency of Canada]