The dangers that one of the pleasures of summer can hide. “Very careful when using shared towels”
A bath on a hot day can leave marks for years or a lifetime. It's a warning that doctors issue year after year, that dangers can come even from bathing places considered safe.
A day at the pool can bring us relaxation, but also big problems FOTo: Freepik
Summer comes with all kinds of temptations, and the high temperatures make us look for destinations that can escape the feeling of heat that you can no longer face. Bathing places are preferred, whether they are landscaped swimming pools or watercourses that people regularly use.
And if in the case of swimming pools there is a control, with the sanitary authorities making checks at least at the beginning of the bathing season, for the undeveloped places the only ones that can keep us away from dangers are the precautionary measures.
Diseases caused by overcrowded places
Discomforts acquired after a trip to the pool can be temporary and easier to solve or, on the contrary, problems that can even endanger our lives.
Health authorities point out that there are several diseases caused by bathing in unsafe places that occur with high frequency.
Conjunctivitis and otitis are most common during the summer, due to bathing in overcrowded or unorganized places, but not the most dangerous.
The manifestations that help you recognize conjunctivitis are: eye itching, burning sensations, abundant discharge.
“Conjunctivitis – both bacterial and viral – is extremely contagious. If treatment and prevention measures are not taken, the disease can spread to the other eye or to other people”, draw the attention of public health specialists from the Olt Public Health Directorate.
Otitis cannot be ignored either, the symptoms being “noisy”: ear pain, fever, chills, nasal discharge, decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, night crying in children. Moisture is one of the factors that increase the risk of infections, which is why otitis is more common during swimming, DSP specialists explain.
On the other hand, meningitis and encephalitis, determined by the infestation with viruses present in contaminated water from improperly sanitized swimming pools, are at a very high risk. They can even be fatal if proper treatment is delayed.
Meningitis symptoms include: severe headache (intense and persistent headaches); neck stiffness (you can't bend your chin to your chest); sudden fever; nausea, vomiting. Encephalitis, in turn, comes with changes in the state of consciousness and confusion. You feel muscle weakness or even local paralysis, you can't stand bright light, epileptic seizures, hallucinations, speech and memory problems, etc. may occur. Often the two conditions are present together, the patient being diagnosed with meningoencephalitis.
Digestive diseases, which we can contract by ingesting insufficiently treated pool water, are also nuisances that can leave deep scars, as can skin diseases.
Signs to send you to the doctor
If, after a day spent at the pool, worrying symptoms appear – such as fever, persistent diarrhea, vomiting, skin rashes, jaundice, severe earaches, breathing difficulties, not to mention the symptoms accompanying meningitis and encephalitis -, the first thing you should do is to see a doctor.
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It should be noted that dermatological conditions, on the other hand, can also appear on healthy skin, but have a higher incidence in those who present an entrance gate – scratches, open wounds – for bacteria, viruses and parasites.
When you feel a very strong smell of chlorine, the wisest decision is not to enter the overchlorinated water, because you risk skin irritation, redness of the skin and eyes, itching, dryness, eczema, allergies.
What precautions can you take?
All of the above can be avoided if we keep a few simple rules in mind. The first and most important would be to only frequent authorized swimming pools.
Other precautions have to do with how much we listen to our senses. If we smell an unpleasant smell, see foam or the water has an unnatural color, the right decision is not to bathe in that place.
Other simple gestures can also save us from inconvenience or reduce the risk. Avoiding swallowing pool water, showering before and after bathing, avoiding swimming in public places if we have open wounds are simple measures also indicated by specialists.
“Pool conjunctivitis is quite difficult to treat”
The diseases mentioned above are not “simple nuisances”, but can become problems with which we struggle for months or years. Enterocolitis, for example, is an acute condition that can quickly lead to dehydration, with dramatic effects in young children.
“Swimming pool conjunctivitis is quite difficult to treat. Because, as a rule, especially if it is a well-maintained pool, resistant germs develop there”, explains family doctor Mihai Ungureanu. Chlorination of water, which in theory gives us the assurance that the risk of contracting various diseases is minimal, actually affects our eyes and creates an environment conducive to the development of conjunctivitis. We can reduce this risk by using diving goggles.
Another measure we must adopt is to at least rinse our face and eyes with clean water after each exit from the pool.
Dermatitis and eczema are other health problems that we can end up struggling with in the long run.
“Very careful when using shared towels. It is safest to go to the pool with your towel, even if you have insured the towel in the cost. The towels are obviously washed and disinfected, but can you be sure that they didn't get tangled then, through negligence, through inattention?”the doctor also indicates.
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Also as precautionary measures during the holiday, even more so if we choose accommodation at low prices, perhaps outside the classified accommodation units, the doctor recommends that we have new substances for disinfecting. Often the smell is no longer an indicator of cleanliness, because today professional air fresheners are used, which give us the impression of cleanliness.
Doctor Mihai Ungureanu explains, on the other hand, that we may not, normally, have a predisposition to develop certain ailments, but this may happen on vacation. Environmental change is a factor that favors this, being in fact an aggression on the body. You change the water (the water you drink, the water you wash with), maybe you change the shampoo, the detergents, plus the food you eat – when you arrive on vacation you want to try maybe new dishes, new spices, plus sweating, plus the clothes that are usually made of synthetic materials that dry quickly and resist water, plus the excitement of experiencing many experiences in a short time, all of which can favor the appearance of discomfort. The recommendation would be to make the changes gradually, if we allow ourselves more than 2-3 days off, in order to give the body time to adapt and not to turn the vacation from a period of relaxation into one even more stressful than what we experience every day.
