Gastroenteritis - UK: (England): Swimming Pool, Suspected Cryptosporidiosis
Epidemiology is a branch of medicine that studies the incidence, control and determinants of health related events such as diseases. In this report, the outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Splashes and the conditions that influenced the outbreak will be examined, while also shedding some more light on cryptosporidiosis.
Summary of the Pro-MED Posting
Splashes pool, run by Medway Council, was temporarily closed as a precautionary measure; due to reports of dozens of children who took ill after swimming in the pool. The pool was closed on Monday, 1st of November, 2016 so as to enable deep cleaning of the changing rooms and pool ("ProMED mail", 2016). A parent reported through Facebook that her little son had visited Splashes on the 28th of October, 2016 along with his friend and both of them had become ill ("ProMED mail", 2016). The parent also noted that more than 20 people who had been there on the same day had also been sick. Another parent said her two children who had not been very ill in years had developed chronic sickness and diarrhea after their visit to Splashes on the 28th of October, 2016 ("ProMED mail", 2016). A mother also reported that her son and nephew had been sick after visiting the pool. She noted that there were so many similar reports about the same incident on Facebook and demanded that something be done about it ("ProMED mail", 2016).
A Medway Council spokesman urged customers not to visit the pool whenever they were suffering with sickness because he suspected that would most likely have been the cause of any spread of illness to other pool users. He also said Medway Council was thoroughly cleaning the pool and changing areas and that they had increased the chlorine levels in the pool so as to stop the further spread of the germs ("ProMED mail", 2016). Medway Council, as at the time of the post, said it had received 11 complaints regarding this issue ("ProMED mail", 2016).
Specific Disease: Cryptosporidiosis
Cryptosporidiosis is a diarrheal disease caused by Cryptosporidium (CDC, 2016). Cryptosporidium is a microscopic encapsulated protozoan that lives in the intestine of humans and animals. They are found in contaminated water and the disease they cause is spread by the fecal-oral transmission. Cryptosporidium can survive outside a host for a long period of time and are resistant to chlorine (Watson, Grimble, Preedy, & Zibadi, 2013). Once the sporulated oocysts are ingested, sporozoites are released. These sporozoites attach to the epithelial cells of the intestine and respiratory tract of the host and multiply to produce 2 types of oocytes. One of the oocyte is commonly excreted from the host while the second oocyte is involved in autoinfection (Watson, Grimble, Preedy, & Zibadi, 2013).
The most common symptom of cryptosporidiosis is watery diarrhea (CDC, 2016). Other symptoms of cryptosporidiosis include weight loss, fever, vomiting, stomach pain and dehydration. Some infected people may be asymptomatic while others will usually show symptoms between 2 to 10 days …
