Public Pools: the FIRST gender neutral bathrooms
According to Michele Hlavsa with the CDC, there's concern this season about a particular parasite called cryptosporidium, or crypto for short, which causes diarrhea that can last up to three weeks in otherwise healthy people.
Crypto is tough, and resistant to chlorine.
"At chlorine levels the CDC recommends for pools, most germs are killed within minutes," Hlavsa told WWJ's Dr. Deanna Lites. "Cryptosporidium can survive for seven or more days,"
So how does crypto get into the water?
"Unfortunately, we swimmers bring it into the water," Hlavsa said. "If we have diarrhea and we have a diarrheal incident in the water, we contaminate the water. And other swimmers can swallow that water and become sick themselves."
The bottom line: Don't go swimming if you have diarrhea and don't let your child go into a pool if he or she has it. Try not to swallow water while swimming and check a public pool's inspection score before you go swimming.