The tagline of a current public service announcement reads, "We all live downstream."
That's especially true, it seems, of the people who frequent the array of swimming pools and water parks in several Utah counties. In fact, the level of contamination is such there that trusty chlorine isn't getting the job done and germs are blowing past other safeguards as well. People are getting sick by the hundreds.
In short, "swimming pool sickness" is the latest in the litany of public health and safety concerns. And though it sounds like an epidemic, health officials are trying to keep their rhetoric down and deal with the issue in a rational and low-key manner.
The culprit behind the illness is crytosporidium, a robust bug that can cause severe diarrhea. The sources for it are toddlers. Delicately put, water is a wonderful dilutant, but public pools were not meant for potty training. Officials are asking parents to keep youngsters age 5 and under away from public water parks and pools — for their own safety and for the safety of others.
Now concerns switch to other venues where water is a common denominator — places like the fountains in parks and even family bathtubs, home swimming pools and home-grown "hose" sports. Health officials are also asking people who go through a bout of diarrhea to steer clear of public pools for a two weeks. Others should make sure they are clean before they get into the water, not simply after they leave it.
It comes down to the old school nurse's soapbox chant again — hygiene, hygiene, hygiene. And the current outbreak is just one more example of how volatile public health and safety can be. Blink one too many times and something evil this way comes. We commend health officials for being on top of the situation and working toward a speedy and measured response. We also urge parents to, once again, stress the importance of cleanliness. Hand washing, soap scrubbing and other personal hygiene habits should be taught and monitored. Sometimes the biggest favor you can do for someone else is to not get them sick.
After all, we all live downstream.