Cryptosporidium Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Cryptosporidium Blog

August 25, 2005
Democrat and Chronicle (NY)
Lauren Stanforth

Monroe County Health Director Dr. Andrew Doniger today urged parents and caregivers of those who contracted the cryptosporidium parasite at a Spraypark near Geneva to wash their hands thoroughly and regularly to keep the gastrointestinal illness from spreading.

Doniger said this week about 25 percent of calls to the Health Department were from people who got the illness from someone they came in close contact with, often a preschooler. About 90 percent of the 358 people in Monroe County who have reported getting sick were young children, Doniger said.

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August 26, 2005
www.channelcincinnati.com

CINCINNATI -- The crypto outbreak is spreading around the Tri-state, but one local health official suggests the approaching end of summer will keep it from becoming a big problem, News 5's John London reported.

Cases of the parasitic illness have now been reported in Clermont County and Northern Kentucky. The first reported local cases -- in seven kids and one adult -- were traced to a YMCA pool in Hamilton County. Now, there are 65 cases in a three-county area. All but two involve children.

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Lauren Stanforth
Staff writer

(August 26, 2005) - The state Health Department will write regulations by November that will govern water quality at all spray and splash parks, state Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia C. Novello said this afternoon in an interview with the Democrat and Chronicle.

The regulations are in response to the parasitic contamination at Seneca Lake State Park's Sprayground this summer that may have made more than 3,200 people ill -- one of the largest parasitic waterborne infections in the U.S. in at least a decade.

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Thu Aug 25, 5:43 AM ET

A potentially deadly disease is rapidly growing in Hamilton County, and it's hitting mostly pre-school children, News 5 reported.

After News 5 reported Tuesday on the cryptosporidium outbreak at a local YMCA pool, parents of sick kids and others with symptoms started calling the Health Department.

The Health Department is now investigating at least 24 cases ? three times the number of confirmed cases as of Tuesday. The cases involve 21 children under the age of 5.

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From ABC 7 Monday August 22, 2005

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A New York state assemblyman is launching an inquiry into the state-run water playground that may have spread more than 2,000 cases of gastrointestinal illnesses. "All visitors to New York State Parks should be confident that they will have a healthy and safe experience," State Assemblyman Joseph Morelle said in a statement.

The number of reported gastrointestinal illnesses possibly spread by the water playground at Seneca Lake Park has grown to 2,202 cases across 24 counties in western and central New York as of Monday.

So far, 13 cases in four different counties have been confirmed as cryptosporidiosis, a common waterborne disease.

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Nine People Fall Ill, One Hospitalized

August 24, 2005
The Cincinnati Channel

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A dangerous parasite prompted the closing of hundreds of Hamilton County swimming pools Tuesday, and at least nine people are already sick, News 5 reports.

Eight children are ill and an adult has been hospitalized after an outbreak of cryptosporidium at Powel Crosley Y.M.C.A. in Springfield Township, health officials said.

"Crypto" will give you cramps and severe diarrhea that can last up to two weeks --- or even worse.

A severe outbreak in Milwaukee in 1993 killed 100 people when "crypto" spread into the water supply. About 400,000 people were infected.

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August 19, 2005
The New York Times
Anahad O'Connor

A play area filled with water jets and sprinklers at a state park in central New York has been identified as the source of a severe intestinal illness that has stricken nearly 750 people in three weeks, the State Health Department said yesterday.

Nearly all of the confirmed cases of the disease, a highly contagious waterborne infection called cryptosporidiosis, have so far been traced to the attraction, known as the Sprayground, at Seneca Lake State Park in Geneva, N.Y., a Health Department spokesman, Jeffrey W. Hammond, said. Although none of the people who were infected are known to be critically ill, the outbreak may be among the largest ever involving cryptosporidiosis in New York State, which typically has fewer than 500 cases a year. The Sprayground, which gets about 43,000 visitors every August, was closed on Monday after health officials noted more than 100 cases of the disease in eight counties.

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Public Should Take Precautions to Prevent Further Spread of Illness, 1738 Cases Reported

ALBANY, NY, August 19, 2005 - State Health Commissioner Antonia C. Novello M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H. and State Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro today issued an update concerning the gastrointestinal illnesses which has been linked to the spray park attraction at Seneca Lake State Park. The dates of onset of illness range from June to the present and many people have since recovered.

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Sickening bug suspected at Spraypark in Geneva

Jack Jones
Staff writer

(August 18, 2005) - GENEVA- The number of people sickened after visiting The Spraypark water sports playground at Seneca Lake State Park has risen to 746 in an eight-county area.

The park has been closed since Monday as a precaution after health officials identified it as the possible link between a suspected bacterial infection that has caused gastrointestinal illness in people who had visited the park, said Wendy Gibson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

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August 17, 2005

13WHAM-TV
(Geneva, NY) -- It's now officially an outbreak.

The number of stomach illnesses linked to the sprayground water park at Seneca Lake Park in Geneva has grown to 800 cases; about 100 of those cases are children from Monroe County; others are from surrounding counties, other states, Mexico, and Canada.

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By The Citizen
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 10:07 AM EDT

The New York State Department of Health reports that more than 100 cases of gastrointestinal illness may be linked to a water spray area at Seneca Lake State Park.

State Health Commissioner Antonia Novella said in a news release Tuesday that people who attended the park spray grounds since late July and are experiencing diarrhea, abdominal; cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever, headache or loss of appetite should contact their health care provider. Health care workers with patient contact and food service workers should notify their employers if they are experiencing gastrointestinal illness, and children and staff should refrain from attending day care if they show symptoms.

There has been one confirmed case of Cryptosporidiosis in Wayne County and additional tests are pending to determine the cause. The spray grounds at Seneca Lake State Park have been temporarily closed.

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2,000 people have reported symptoms
From Debra Goldschmidt
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- More than 2,000 people in 24 New York counties have shown symptoms of a gastrointestinal illness traced to a water attraction at the Seneca Lake State Park in upstate New York, state health officials said Monday.

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Since 1989, approximately 170 outbreaks associated with recreational water venues (e.g., swimming pools, waterparks, fountains, hot tubs and spas, lakes, rivers, and oceans) have been reported, with almost half resulting in gastrointestinal illness (1--5). This report summarizes the investigation of an outbreak of gastroenteritis in Florida during 1999. The findings indicated that Shigella sonnei and Cryptosporidium parvum infections caused illness in persons exposed to an "interactive" water fountain* at a beachside park.

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Cryptosporidiosis associated with recreational water exposure is becoming recognized more frequently (1). This report summarizes the investigation of a large outbreak of cryptosporidiosis associated with exposure to a water sprinkler fountain at the Minnesota Zoo. The initial cases were not diagnosed as cryptosporidiosis by the health-care system despite patients seeking care, underscoring the need for increased awareness of cryptosporidiosis and routine laboratory diagnostic practices among health-care providers.

On July 10, 1997, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) was notified by a parent about four cases of gastroenteritis among a group of 10 children whose only common exposure was a birthday party at the Minnesota Zoo on June 29. The zoo provided MDH with a list of registered groups that had visited the zoo during June 28-30; group members were contacted and interviewed about illness and zoo exposures. Initially, cases were defined as vomiting or diarrhea (defined as three or more loose stools during a 24-hour period) in persons who visited the zoo. Of 120 zoo visitors identified through the registered groups, 11 (9%) had illnesses that met the case definition. All had played in a water sprinkler fountain at the zoo, compared with seven (6%) of 109 controls (relative risk=undefined; p less than 0.001). Cryptosporidium oocysts were identified in nine of 10 stool specimens of case-patients tested at MDH. Two of the laboratory-confirmed case-patients had submitted stool samples previously for ova and parasite examination to their health-care providers; both samples were reported as negative for parasites.

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