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A
group of researchers from the CDC sampled water from 161 public and
private pools and water parks in Atlanta and found that half of them
were contaminated with
e. coli, which comes from -you guessed it- poop.
The
study, published in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,
specifically looked at pools in Atlanta, but the researchers say such
contamination is likely a widespread problem in U.S. pools, thanks to
swimmers not washing themselves off before taking a dip. According to
the scientists, each of us carries about 0.14 grams of fecal material
into the pool — and that doesn’t include accidents or cases of diarrhea.
Among municipal pools, the genetic testing for pathogens detected E.
coli in 70% of the filters, while 66% of the water parks contained the
bacteria and 49% of pools in private clubs showed evidence of the
contamination.
“These findings indicate the need for swimmers to
help prevent introduction of pathogens, e.g., taking a pre-swim shower
and not swimming when ill with diarrhea, [for] aquatics staff to
maintain disinfectant level and pH according to public health standards
to inactivate pathogens, and state and local environmental health
specialists to enforce such standards,” the authors write in their
report.
Because of the way they did the tests, the
researchers did not determine whether the bacteria was alive. If pools
are properly chlorinated, they should be dead. Atlanta had no reported
pool-borne illnesses last summer, when the samples were taken. But just
to be sure, try not to swallow pool water.
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