Waterborne Illness

By Laura Colarusso

There’s probably nothing as synonymous with summer as packing up the family and heading to the pool, lake or water park to take a dip. Swimming is a great way to keep cool and beat the heat. There are bacterial, viral and parasitic dangers that lurk beneath the surface. Before you cannon ball off the diving board, here are a couple of things to keep in mind when it comes to recreational water illnesses, or RWIs.

These diseases can take many forms ranging from bacterial infections like E.Coli and Shigella to parasites such as Giardia. Bugs like Salmonella that are usually associated with foodborne illnesses can also cause RWIs. The diseases are spread by having contact with or swallowing contaminated water and cause skin, ear, eye, respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Swimming Scare?

With swimming, you can contract many of the same diseases that plague food, said Dr. Jim King, president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

“Basically, if you can ingest it, you can get it in a swimming pool,” King said. “That’s always a possibility.”

Once you’ve been targeted by one of these nasty microbes, you’ll likely experience some nausea or stomach cramps. One of the most common illnesses associated with RWI is diarrhea.

But fear not. There are a few things you can do to protect yourself. King advises first and foremost don’t swallow the water because there is probably some fecal matter being dispersed in the pool or lake. Ingesting just a little bit of infected water could cause an illness.

You Can Reduce Risks

To help reduce the risk of spreading and picking up bacteria, take a shower both before and after swimming, King said.

Once you catch an RWI, the treatment will depend on the type of illness. If it’s a bacterial infection, your doctor may choose to prescribe antibiotics, King said. Parasites are treated with medicines such as Metronidazole, he added. If it’s viral, you’ll just have to wait it out.

Pain in the Ear

Another condition to watch out for is swimmer’s ear, which is an infection of the skin in the ear canal. It’s starts out with a slight aching in the ear, but then rapidly progress to very severe pain that will keep you up at night, said Dr. Richard Rosenfeld, chairman of the otolaryngology department at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.

Swimmer’s ear usually occurs when the fragile lining of the ear canal is cut, allowing the bacteria in a pool or lake to infect the wound. Preventing swimmer’s ear is easy, according to Rosenfeld.

“Leave your ears alone,” he advised. “Don’t attempt to clean them, dry them, scratch them [or] poke them to get the water out. It feels good for a second but now you’ve scratched the skin and you’ve got the stage set for a swimmers ear.”

Rosenfeld recommends using topical drops to treat swimmer’s ear instead of oral antibiotics. Doctors typically prescribe an antiseptic, antibiotic or a steroid in drop form to kill the infection, he said.