![]() Sixteen percent of the outbreaks and three percent of the illnesses were the result of legionella, a germ that causes Legionnaires’ disease, a severe respiratory disease. This is another reason one should never swallow the water of pools and hot tubs. “Don’t even consider getting in the water if you have diarrhea,” Hlavsa says. Fluid leaks out of people with diarrhea, from you know where, and their parasites are absorbed by other bathers, often (brace yourself) through the mouth, she says. Warm water “tends to make people loosen up,” says Hlavsa, who was the lead author of the report. It’s easy to imagine how the parasites got in the water-though you’d probably rather not. “The warm water increases bacteria and uses up chlorine quicker,” says Michele Hlavsa, an epidemiologist and head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Swimming and Cryptosporidiosis program. ![]() ![]() Hot tubs also make for a greater maintenance challenge than pools. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common bacterial infection, is so strongly associated with tubs their main symptom has been dubbed “ hot tub rash.” Those afflicted experience inflammation, itching, and pus-filled blisters around hair follicles, particularly on areas of the body that were covered by a swimsuit and hence absorb a lot of hot tub water. Hot tubs are frequent transfer stations for bacteria. “You don’t really see that in colder water.” This is one reason, Glatt adds, people really should shower before getting in the hot tub. “It can lead to a lot of superficial skin infections,” Glatt says. The dirt, oil, and microscopic particles lurking within come out and could pass into the open pores of the other bathers. “There are certain types of microorganisms that seem to proliferate in them,” says Aaron Glatt, chair of medicine at South Nassau Communities Hospital and spokesperson for the Infectious Disease Society of America. By their nature, hot tubs present a bacteria risk that swimming pools-though also chemically treated and shared with strangers-do not.
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