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Notice to Readers: Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week --- May
21--27, 2007
The third annual National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week is scheduled for May 21--27, 2007, at the onset
of swimming season, to raise awareness regarding the potential for spread of infectious diseases at swimming venues and the
need to improve prevention measures. An estimated 8.1 million swimming pools are available for private or public use in
the
United States (1).Each year, U.S. residents make an estimated 360 million visits to recreational water venues (e.g.,
swimming pools, spas, lakes, and oceans), making swimming the second most common physical activity (after walking) in the
country and the most common among children
(2). The number of waterparks has increased to approximately 1,000 in
North America, with another 600 elsewhere around the world. Approximately 73 million visits were made to North
American waterparks in 2004, and the number of visits
increased by 3%--5% during the preceding 5 years
(3). Recreational water illnesses (RWIs) are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with contaminated water from swimming pools,
spas, lakes, rivers, or oceans (4). The most commonly reported RWI is diarrhea caused by pathogens such as
Cryptosporidium, Giardia,
Shigella, and Escherichia coli O157:H7. Children, pregnant women, and persons with compromised immune
systems are at greatest risk. Infection with Cryptosporidium
can be life threatening to persons with weakened immune systems
(5). Other RWIs can cause various ailments, including skin, ear, eye, respiratory, wound, and neurologic infections.
During 1978_2004, a steady increase in RWI outbreaks in the United States resulted in approximately 30,000 illnesses
(6). This increase likely can be attributed to a combination of increased water usage, improved outbreak detection,
and increased disease transmission. The spread of RWIs is facilitated by emergence of chlorine-resistant pathogens such
as Cryptosporidium (6), poor pool maintenance
(7), and low public awareness of the problem
(8). Recommendations for public swimming pools include improved operation, training, and public education to protect swimmers from
infectious-disease transmission.
Castor ML, Beach MJ. Reducing illness transmission from disinfected recreational water venues: swimming, diarrhea, and the emergence of a
new public health concern. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2004;23:866--70.
Chen XM, Keithly JS, Paya CV, LaRusso NF. Cryptosporidiosis. N Engl J Med 2002;346:1723--31.
McClain J, Bernhardt JM, Beach MJ. Assessing parents' perception of children's risk for recreational water illnesses. Emerg Infect Dis 2005;11:670--6.
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Health and Human Services.References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are
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Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
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the date of publication.
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