Family Sickened By Parasite Blames Water Park

Tuesday, July 24th 2007, 9:15 pm

By: News On 6

A public water park is temporarily shut down because several people say they became violently ill after swimming there. The Okmulgee YMCA water park has closed voluntarily, and health officials are now trying to determine if the swimmers did in fact get sick at the park. One family we spoke with says they contracted a water born parasite infection after swimming. The News On 6â€™s Chris Wright reports they worry more people might be infected, and simply not know about it yet.

Kim Hedrick says she and her children have not left the couch much over the past five days. The entire family has been diagnosed with Cryptosporidium, microscopic water born parasite.

"Both my boys have been very sick. They've received IV fluids for dehydration, there's been lots of vomiting, lots of diarrhea," Tulsa resident Kim Hendrick said.

Besides vomiting and diarrhea, other symptoms of Cryptosporidium include dehydration, weight loss and stomach cramps.

Kim says the family became ill six days after a July 14 visit to the Okmulgee Water Park. They were there swimming with a total of 11 extended family members, and now nine of those people are sick.

After receiving several other calls from sick swimmers the YMCA, which runs the water park, elected to close it on Monday. Health officials are not quite sure yet if the pool is where people contracted their illnesses, but the pool will likely remain closed as a precaution for a few days.

"We don't know if the illnesses, the diarrhea illnesses, have come from a single source, we don't want to say yet exactly because we don't know," said Tressia Ables with the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Health officials say they will wait for test results to return before determining if Cryptosporidium is to blame or not. As for Kim Hendrick, she is already convinced that the Okmulgee Water Park is where her family encountered the parasite. She says it will be a while before any of them go anywhere near a public swimming pool again.

"We happen to go that fateful day, and now we're paying the price,â€ Hendrick said.

Health officials are not sure exactly how many people became sick after swimming on July 14.

According to the CDC, the parasite has an incubation period of two to ten days, meaning swimmers are just now coming down with it.

Watch the video: Water Park Closes After Several Sickened