Winter is typically thought to be the season of germs, what with cold and flu season. But warm weather is rife with stomach-turning germy dangers as well.
Swimming pools are one nasty example. Swimmers are likely to carry more than just suntan lotion into the water with them, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last year.
An incredible 58 percent of pool filters the CDC surveyed contained E. coli, a bacterium found in human feces. Fifty-nine percent of filters sampled contained pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause skin and ear infections, according to the CDC.
Often, such contaminants get into pools because swimmers don’t shower before entering the water. (Now you know why pool signs advise you to do so.)
Other possible pool contaminants include mucus, salvia and skin cells, not to mention skin oils and lotions, Keri Peterson, M.D., an internist in New York City and self-described “crazy germaphobe,” told weather.com. “Shower before you swim; bathe your children when they get out. If you’re sick, don’t go in the pool,” she warned.
Here, Dr. Peterson outlines a few more germ-ridden summer spots you need to know about.
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