The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are asking swimmers to take precautions against spreading cryptosporidium, a fecal parasite that can live for days in swimming pools. This according to KTXS.

Cryptosporidium can cause cryptosporidiosis. Strip away the long, hard to pronounce names and all you need to know is it can give you profuse, watery, diarrhea for up to three weeks. The CDC says the number of cases have been increasing by about 13% every year since 2009. So there's some concern about the spread of the disease.

The disease can be transmitted in a variety of environments. Pools, kiddie pools, lakes, untreated drinking water, interaction with cattle, being in child care settings, or drinking unpasturized milk or apple cider. The majority of the cases though, come from pools, kiddie pools and water playgrounds.

So how can swimmers take precautions against spreading cryptosporidium? Staying out of the pool for two weeks after having diarrhea. 24% of us say we'd jump in the pool an hour after suffering diarhhea, but in a watery environment, especially where ingestion of infected water can happen easily, that's not good enough. Chlorine can kill a lot of germs, unfortunately, cryptosporidium can survive in a properly chlorinated pool for up to seven days.

Here's the thing, the CDC thinks the problem is getting worse. However, the spike in cases might also be due to new testing technology. In other words, the pool might not be dirtier than it ever was in the past. My takeaways from this: stay out of the pool for awhile after a case of diarhhea. And if you have little ones, watch them so they don't have an accident in the pool. Finally, sometimes on a hot day, you can't let what might happen stop you from splashing around and having a good day.

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