Parasitic Disease May Be Spreading, Illinois County Official Says

Health officials in Tazewell County, Ill., are warning that cryptosporidiosis, a parasitic disease that can be fatal to people with compromised immune systems, might have spread to swimming pools throughout the area. There have been eight confirmed cases of the disease, which is spread by a microscopic parasite in the feces of humans and animals. The county is asking the managers of public swimming pools to superchlorinate them to 20 parts per million for eight hours. The original source of contamination has not been identified. The confirmed cases all have links to the Splashdown water park, although there is no direct evidence the park's pool was infected. When cryptosporidium parvum protozoa invaded Milwaukee's water supply in 1993, it made 400,000 people sick and killed 100. The fatalities were mainly AIDS patients, along with some elderly persons and babies.

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