Splash parks are all fun and games until someone gets gastro.
There are several guaranteed ways of spreading disease and chaos quickly through a household with young children.
In the top five is spending a few hours in an indoor play centre where every child has wiped their nose (and possibly other regions) with their hands and left a trail of microbes while climbing all over the equipment for other kids to pick up.
(This Back Pager still avoids indoor play centres since the Great Gastro Outbreak of 2015.)
Now US researchers are warning that outdoor water parks are also potential pathogen super-spreaders when not treated right, literally.
Splash parks are ideal for us tired parents because your kid can run around and play in the water for hours without a high risk of drowning. Win/win.
But if the splash park hasn’t been properly maintained or had its water quality checked, its jets can turn into highly effective pathogen dispensers.
New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that a disastrous combination of poorly maintained splash park equipment and uncontrolled faecal matter caused 60 waterborne disease outbreaks associated with splash pads between 1997 and 2022.
Those outbreaks in the US and Puerto Rico resulted in 10,611 cases, 152 hospitalisations and 99 emergency department visits, but luckily no reported deaths.
Of those 60 outbreaks, 65% were associated with splash pads only (when the researchers excluded any venue that also had swimming pools and hot tubs). Those outbreaks caused 5384 cases, 85 emergency department visits and 68 hospitalisations.
The researchers found that Cryptosporidium – whichcan live longer than a week in chlorinated water – caused 64% of the outbreaks when it was ingested through contaminated water.
Making up the rest of the numbers were Giardia duodenalis, Shingella sonnei, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni,norovirus and Salmonella.
The problem with splash parks lies in poor design, maintenance and disinfection, as well as Cryptosporidium’s tolerance of chlorine treatment, the researchers said in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
As with many problems, user behaviour plays a key role, too.
The authors politely suggest not taking children to splash parks when they have diarrhea (and for two weeks afterwards), taking them to the toilet often, not letting them swallow water, and changing nappies away from the water. Good tips.
Not letting toddlers squat on the jets would be helpful, too, they said.
“Swim diapers do not prevent faecal contamination of recreational water. Sitting or standing on top of water jets and wearing diapers or swim diapers are behaviours commonly observed in children playing in splash pads.”
Sitting or standing on jets “results in rinsing of diapers or perianal surfaces, which in young children can carry as much as 10g of faeces”, they said.
“Because children typically ingest more recreational water than adults and have been commonly observed to place their open mouths on sprayed or jetted water, children are at increased risk for exposure to pathogens in contaminated splash pad water.”
While Australian health authorities have strict maintenance guidelines around splash parks, you might want to think twice before putting your face in the water if there are nappy-clad toddlers about.
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