South-side YMCA pool closes due to parasite:
The pool at the YMCA in south Springfield has been closed after an individual who used it tested positive for the parasite cryptosporidium.
The Pat Jones YMCA, located at 1901 E. Republic Road, said on its Facebook page Tuesday that it received word of the positive test from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. The facility said the individual used the pool as recently as Feb. 1.
Cryptosporidium is a microscopic parasite that causes the diarrheal disease cryptosporidiosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the play The Courtship of Barbara Holt, the protagonist puts the ailment somewhere closer to love than to the flu:
RICK What’s wrong?
MARK I don’t know. It might be the flu or something. I have a pounding head and I’m rather sick to my stomach.
RICK Could be gastroenteritis.
MARK I don’t think it’s that serious.
RICK An outbreak of cryptosporidiosis.
MARK No, no. Could be more serious.
RICK More serious than crypto in the water?
MARK It could be love.
RICK Oh, that.
This kind of started out as an in-joke for my fellow Marquette University students after the 1993 outbreak in Milwaukee.
Did I survive that outbreak? Yes. Have I been in the YMCA pool since February 1? Yes. So far, so good.
