Emily Tate, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – There must be something in the water — still — because local cases of a waterborne diarrheal disease continue to climb, surpassing 250 by Tuesday.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
That number, which exceeds the cases in Franklin and Delaware counties combined in the past five years, probably will keep rising over the next few weeks before it levels off, health officials say.
“Crypto is so hardy,” said Susan Tilgner, the Franklin County health commissioner. “It takes a while to manage it, even if you’re doing all the right things.”
And by Tilgner’s count, health officials are doing just about everything they can to combat the disease.
Last week, after Franklin and Delaware counties declared a community outbreak of cryptosporidiosis, Columbus Recreation and Parks temporarily closed all pools and spray grounds and the Scioto Mile fountains.
Columbus health officials notified personnel at 800 pools in the city — that includes all pools at condo complexes, hotels and recreation centers — and provided them with guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Jose Rodriguez, spokesman for Columbus Public Health. Many of the pools, like those operated by the city, were “hyper-chlorinated” to flush out any trace of the disease.
Health officials also alerted physicians and school employees to the outbreak. Although cryptosporidiosis is primarily transferred through fecal matter in the water, day-care centers and preschools are at risk because small children sometimes don’t practice proper hygiene, Tilgner said.