An urgent health warning has been issued for those in Victoria, Australia after a surge in cases of the highly infectious disease cryptosporidiosis.
The parasitic infection presents as gastroenteritis, which usually comes with cramping abdominal pain, fever, watery diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
Children are reportedly most highly at risk from the contagious waterborne parasite.
Currently there are 87 confirmed cases of the highly infectious disease in Victoria since January 1 as of Friday according to the Victorian health department.
While it may not seem like many people, it’s already surpassing the five-year average and the cases typically increase in the warmer months.
Victoria had 2349 cases of the disease in 2024, a 233 percent rise from 2023.
Across Australia, the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System confirmed the cases were on the rise, having gone form 3716 across Australia in 2023 to 11,860 in 2024, which equates to a 300 percent rise.
While the disease is “usually mild and self-limiting” according to the Victorian department of health, chief health officer Tarun Weeramanthri said: “It’s important to remember that you remain infectious for several weeks after your diarrhea stops.
“So don’t swim until two weeks after your symptoms have stopped.
“It’s the simple steps that are most effective – showering with soap before swimming will help keep germs out of the water.
“And of course, avoid swallowing the pool water if you can.
“If you think you or your child may have cryptosporidiosis, contact your doctor. The doctor will assist you for testing.”
Although chlorine kills most germs in treated public pools, Weeramanthri commented that some germs can be highly resistant to chlorine.
For those who do go swimming in public, the recommendations are that people wash with soap before swimming, try to avoid swallowing pool water, and to wash hands with soap after going to the bathroom or changing a nappy.
It’s not the first time this bug has caused chaos.
Last summer, outbreaks caused pool closures in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
In February last year, it was reported that NSW’s cases were at more than five times the levels of the five-year average, while Victorian cases were up over 600 percent to the previous year by March.
In Queensland, numbers in February were up a whopping 13 times the 2023 numbers and surpassed the annual totals of 2021 and 2022.
