Man suspects wife caught fatal flesh-eating bacteria in Clearwater hot tub

WFLA ^

[Flaming Conservative]

You HOPE the pool is properly chlorinated. If the water feels “thicker” than normal water, it probably IS thicker -— with crud. Chlorine only works for so long, before it evaporates and loses its ability to decontaminate. But hey, we can’t live in a plastic bubble, and our bodies do an amazing job fighting off most bad germs.

[Zhang Fei]

“OK, got this now. Public hot tubs to be avoided at all costs. How about your own private Hot Tub?

We had one here when we first bought our house, but it was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. We have been thinking about getting another one. If it is nothing but a germ lab, I can pass on that easily.”

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I learned many, many moons ago that pool water was instant death for bacteria. A quick google reveals that what I learned was wrong. It depends greatly on regular maintenance, which varies by establishment. If the following Daily Mail report on Spanish hotel pools is reflective of gym pools stateside, I’ve either got a strong constitution, or I’ve just gone to the pools with adequate chlorination. I suspect home hot tubs and pools are less risky, since homeowners are presumably more conscientious about keeping bug-killing chemicals at adequate or elevated levels out of an excess of caution. But maintaining a bug-free environment, even of a hot tub, does require more work than just filling it with water.
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/pdf/swimming/resources/operating-public-hot-tubs-factsheet.pdf

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‘Our stomach-churning evidence of gross bacterial contamination shows the apparent incompetence of most hotels at maintaining effective levels of water disinfectant in their pools,’ said the magazine’s managing editor Kim Winter. ‘This is posing a serious health hazard to holidaymakers.’ Holiday Which? tested 80 pools on Majorca and Corfu, two of the most popular destinations for British tourists.

Twenty were condemned as health hazards while another 29 were judged potentially hazardous. Six more pools were heavily contaminated with bugs found in human or animal faeces. Seven pools contained such high levels of chlorine that it would bleach bathing costumes and irritate the eyes and skin.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-205309/Holiday-pool-peril-warning.html#ixzz5FIviRoO4
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