Drinking water straight from a mountain stream only looks good in advertising. A dozen or so young people ended up in hospital with severe poisoning – diarrhea, vomiting and weakness. The sanitary inspectorate warns – water in the mountains is often heavily polluted. There are thousands of tourists, but few toilets.
This summer, several dozen tourists have been admitted to hospital in Zakopane with symptoms of poisoning. The largest group last weekend.
– We evacuated a dozen or so people from the Five Ponds Valley and the Roztoka Valley, about 20 in total, with the following illnesses: diarrhea, weakness, vomiting – said Edward Lichota from TOPR.
“They took advantage of the benefits of nature”
Some were so weak that they had to be taken away by helicopter. Six teenagers spent two days in hospital.
– They took advantage of the benefits of nature in the form of stream water, which was probably a factor in their condition. Why do we assume so? Because one of these people, from this large group, did not drink the water from the stream and this person happened to be in good condition – informed Jerzy Toczek, a pediatrician from the District Hospital named after Doctor Tytus Chałubiński in Zakopane.
The doctor indicated poisoning with the Escherichia coli bacteria detected in Tatra streams. At the same time, sanitary tests showed the presence of norovirus in one of the teenagers.
TOPR: a group of teenagers with their guardians felt unwell and were unable to get down on their ownTVN24
– Judging by the symptoms and the fact that this one result showed that it was norovirus, we suppose that it was in fact a viral disease that spreads very quickly, is very contagious and, unfortunately, with such an acute course – said Dominika Łatak-Glonek from the Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Kraków.
Most often, it is not life-threatening, but its symptoms are very bothersome.
– Since one of the characteristic symptoms of norovirus infection is something colorfully called fountain vomiting, the virus can be transmitted through the so-called bioaerosol. That is, if we have a patient vomiting, the virus is in the air and then another person can get infected – explained Dr. Tomasz Dzieciątkowski, a virologist from the Medical University of Warsaw.
It is easier to get infected with the virus in crowded mountains
Objects and food can also become contaminated, as can water – for example, in a mountain stream if it has had contact with the feces of an infected person.
Guide Maja Sindalska has long prohibited her students from drawing water from mountain streams.
– If the water is below the shelter, below some buildings, for example a cable car or a mountain shelter, we try not to drink this water, because it may simply be contaminated. The second such rule: we never drink such water from a stream – lists Maja Sindalska, a Tatra guide.
Mountain water should be avoided for another reason.
– We do not absorb it because it is poor in microelements, so if we decide to drink such water at all, we should add some electrolytes to it – says Tomasz Zając from the Tatra National Park.
The Tatras are now visited by up to 50,000 people a day. It is easier to get infected with the virus in the crowded mountains, and increasingly high temperatures favor the spread of dangerous bacteria.
Main image source: TVN24