Environmental Health - Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health

Environmental Health

Protect Your Family from Recreational Water Illnesses (RWIs)

Swimming is a fun, active and healthy way to spend leisure time. However, in the past two decades the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports seeing an increase in the number of Recreational Water Illness (RWI) outbreaks associated with swimming pools, water parks, hot tubs, lakes, rivers, and oceans.

RWIs are illnesses that are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with contaminated water from swimming pools, spas, lakes, rivers, or oceans. Recreational water illnesses can cause a wide variety of symptoms, including gastrointestinal, skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurologic and wound infections.

The most commonly reported RWI is diarrhea.

Diarrheal illnesses can be caused by germs such as Crypto (short for cryptosporidium) Giardia, Shiggella, norovirus and E. Coli 0157:H7.

Swimmers who are ill with diarrhea may contaminate swimming venues. That poses health risks for the healthy swimmers in the pool. In addition, high-risk groups such as the young, the elderly, the pregnant, and those with weakened immune systems should also be advised about recreational water illness prevention and healthy swimming behaviors.

If you or anyone in your family is experiencing diarrhea, stomach cramps or pain, fever, nausea or vomiting, we encourage you to contact your healthcare provider. It’s important to understand that you can prevent these types of illnesses. Public Health officials offer the following CDC recommendations:

Practice these "PLEAs" to stop germs from causing illness:

Three PLEAs for Swimmers:

Please don't swim when you have diarrhea. This is especially important for kids in diapers. You can spread germs in the water and make other people sick.
Please don't swallow the pool water. In fact, avoid getting water in your mouth.
Please 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.

Three PLEAs for Parents of Young Children:

Please take your kids on bathroom breaks or check diapers often. Waiting to hear "I have to go" may mean that it's too late.
Please change diapers in a bathroom and not at poolside. Germs can spread to surfaces and objects in and around the pool and spread illness.
Please 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 ends up in the pool.

Learn more about healthy swimming from the CDC