The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been warning people with diarrhoea against swimming this summer, stressing that it is the most common illness spread through recreational water. The US health agency posted a similar warning on Twitter along with a cartoon gif in which a kid can be seen going down a slide while leaving a brown streak behind.
“Don’t leave your mark at the pool this summer!” reads the gif text. “It only takes one person with diarrhoea to contaminate the entire pool.”
The CDC shared a link for detailed guidance on the disease and swimming, but users couldn’t get past the colourful graphic. The CDC page about diarrhoea and swimming also had a graphic that equated kids sick with diarrhoea entering a pool with them bathing in their commode.
“Your taxpayer dollars were spent paying someone to make a graphic of a child pooping on a slide,” wrote a user. While many were grossed out, one user asked to point to the gif creator so they “can [collaborate] immediately.”
According to the CDC, the water gets contaminated with germs if someone with infectious diarrhoea enters recreational water like the water in pools, hot tubs, water playgrounds, or oceans, lakes, and rivers. People can get sick if they swallow even a small amount of contaminated water.
Here’s the guidance that CDC wants people to follow:
- Stay out of the water if you are sick with diarrhoea and don’t go back in the water until 2 weeks after diarrhoea has completely stopped.
- Use test strips to make sure the water has proper free chlorine (amount of chlorine available to kill germs) or bromine level and pH.
- Shower before you get in the water.
- Don’t poop in the water.
- Don’t swallow the water.
- Take kids on bathroom breaks and check diapers every hour.
