Swimmers run the risk of infection even if pools are well maintained
Local swimming pools are well maintained, but swimmers still run the risk of infection, says Richard Lord
As the weather heats up, inevitably more of us will fancy taking a dip in a pool, whether it be one of Hong Kong's many public swimming facilities or a posh pool in a private housing development.
Unfortunately, in doing so, we open ourselves up to the possibility of contracting all sorts of nasty little conditions that can affect everything from our skin to our eyes and ears, and from our respiratory system to our digestive system.
"A pool is a confined tank," says Terry Hung, specialist in otorhinolaryngology at Matilda International Hospital. "Unlike a sea or river, there's no flow of water. It's a communal thing, so whatever bacteria or germs people in it have can spread into the water and into other people."
Most bacteria come from the gut, and most are killed by chlorine
Bacteria can enter the body when pool water is swallowed, or via the mucous membranes or breaks in the skin. Similarly, they can come from any number of different types of bodily secretion.
One of the simplest ways to avoid infection, therefore, is to avoid responding to the call of nature while swimming - although, as John Yu, specialist in dermatology at Matilda, says, the worst perpetrators are the hardest to control. "Always use a different pool for small kids because they tend to pee everywhere," he advises.
According to a recent study by China Agricultural University and Purdue University in the US, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, the implications go beyond the obvious unpleasantness of swimming around in pee. The researchers found that the uric acid in urine reacts with the chlorine used to disinfect swimming pool water to create cyanogen chloride and trichloramine, poisonous by-products that can cause everything from respiratory tract damage to childhood asthma, and can even cause long-term harm to the central nervous system and heart.
Fortunately, that very same chlorine, also used in the footbath you step through before entering the pool, kills a large number of the nasties that are swimming around with you - but not all of them.