Doctors’ advice: Shower before dip into pool
When Jamie Belanger arrived at Red Oaks Waterpark late last week, she insisted that her daughter, friend and two nephews take a shower before going into the pools.
“Our feet are dirty, so we don’t want to be putting that stuff in the water,” Belanger said.
The Macomb Township mother, however, is outside the norm: A new poll shows that the majority of parents do not recognize the role that showers play in preventing recreational water illnesses.
The swallowing of contaminated water is one factor in the dramatic increase in recreational water-related illnesses in the past two decades.
The latest C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, released in June, showed that 64 percent of parents feel it is very important for children not to swallow water at a pool but only 26 percent of parents think it important to shower before getting in.
“Parents understand the dangers that may be in the water from germs spread from person to person, but many don’t make the connection of how helpful it can be for everyone to shower before getting in the water,” said Dr. Matthew Davis, director of the poll and associate professor in the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Water recreation illnesses are often caused by cryptosporidium, or crypto, a germ that can live for days and isn’t killed by chlorine used in pools and water parks.
Adults and children, who carry germs on their bodies, can bring those bacteria into the pool if they don’t shower. If anyone contracts the germs, he or she can be stricken with infections of the skin, ear, respiratory system, eye and more. Most often, they can cause diarrheal illnesses.
Crypto has become the leading cause of swimming pool-related outbreaks of diarrheal illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases increased more than 200 percent from 3,411 in 2004 to 10,500 in 2008, according to the latest available data.
Warren resident Joe Nevill didn’t plan to shower before using the Red Oaks Waterpark pools because he was planning on taking a shower afterward.
“You’re going to get dirty no matter what,” said Nevill, 17.
And that’s exactly why there are signs outside of pools that tell people to take a shower before getting in, Davis said.
“You aren’t clean if you don’t shower before you enter the water,” Davis said. “Then you can spread germs that you may have to other people. We, as neighbors, need to look out for each other and shower before getting in the water.”
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