Gross!!!

Everybody In The Pool! Uh, Not So Fast

I found the following story on the NPR iPhone App:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/05/21/127032200/everbody-in-the-pool-uh-not-so-fast?sc=17&f=1128

Everybody In The Pool! Uh, Not So Fast
by scott hensley

- May 21, 2010

Finally, the weather is heating up, and we're daydreaming about some serious time by the pool.

But those killjoys at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blew up our fantasies with an analysis of more than 121,000 pool inspection reports from around the country.

The CDC found 12 percent of inspections uncovered problems serious enough to warrant an immediate pool closure.

Health departments regularly check up on swimming pools. Job No. 1 is making sure the water is treated so you don't catch an infection. Bugs that cause gastroenteritis (think diarrhea, stomach cramping and similar symptoms) are the most common, unwelcome swimmers.

Common violations of health codes include problems with water filters and circulation and insufficent disinfectant, the CDC finds.

About half the reports included information on the type of pool inspected, so there are some hints about where the problems are biggest.

Pools at child-care facilities got shutdown because of an inspection most often -- 17 percent of the time. Hotel and motel pools failed 15 percent of the time. Then came the pools at apartment complexes -- 12 percent. Copyright 2010 National Public Radio

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