What is my chance of getting diarrhea when I go swimming?
We don't really know. If public and residential pools are properly
maintained and chlorinated, the risk is thought to be low. Over the
past 10 years, 150+ outbreaks have been reported, linking to small
community pools and large water parks.
Many outbreaks go ignored because people do not think the pool
water as a possible source of illness. It may take up to a number of
weeks for some germs to cause symptoms of illness. The longer the time
period between swimming and development of illness, the less likely
people are to correlate their illness with swimming activity. As a
result, the number of actual outbreaks is probably greater than those
presently reported.