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Recreational Water Illnesses: How to Protect You and Your Children from Getting Ill

BINGHAMTON, NY - Each year millions of people in the United States head for the ocean, lakes, rivers, swimming pools, spas and water parks to cool off or relax during the hot summer months. Swimming is a fun, refreshing and healthy way to spend leisure time.

With modern disinfection systems in pools and the state regulations that are in place to protect our lakes, rivers and oceans, the quality of our recreation water has improved over the years. Despite these improvements, there has been an increase in the number of Recreational Water Illnesses (RWIs).

RWIs are illnesses that are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with contaminated water from swimming pools, spas, lakes, rivers, or oceans. RWIs can cause a wide variety of symptoms, including skin, ear, respiratory, eye, and wound infections. The most commonly reported RWI is diarrhea. Diarrheal illnesses can be caused by germs such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Shigella, and E. coli O157:H7.

You can protect you and your children from RWIs by practicing and promoting healthy swimming behaviors:

  • Avoid swimming when you have diarrhea. This is especially important for children in diapers. Germs can spread in the water and make other people sick.
  • Never swallow recreational water and avoid getting it in your mouth.
  • Hold your nose or use nose plugs when jumping or diving into water.
  • Keep your eyes closed when swimming underwater.
  • Practice good hygiene. Take a shower before swimming and wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers. Germs on your body end up in the water.
  • Make sure children go to the bathroom before they get in the water and make regular bathroom breaks a part of the routine. Waiting to hear "I have to go to the bathroom" may mean that it's too late.
  • Change diapers in a bathroom and not at poolside. Germs can spread to surfaces and objects in and around the pool and spread illness.
  • Wash your child thoroughly (especially the rear end) with soap and water before swimming. Everyone has invisible amounts of fecal matter on their bottoms that end up in the pool.
  • Avoid swimming in lakes, rivers, and oceans after rainfall as they can become contaminated with germs from sewage, animal waste, fecal accidents, and germs rinsed off the bottoms of swimmers. Natural recreational water is not disinfected.

Chlorine in swimming pools does kill the germs that may make people sick, but it takes time. Chlorine in properly disinfected pools kills most germs that can cause RWIs in less than an hour. Chlorine takes longer to kill some germs such as cryptosporidium, which can survive for days in even a properly disinfected pool.

Healthy swimming behaviors are needed to protect you and your family from RWIs and will help stop germs from getting in recreational waters.

For more information on healthy swimming visit the Centers for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming/ or contact Diane O'Hora at the Broome County Health Department at 607.778.3921.

CONTACT:
Diane O'Hora, Supervising Public Health Educator
Broome County Health Department: 607.778.3921
email:

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