Shigella and Pool Party

[crek31]

About to have a pool party. Kids from 4 different daycare centers will be in attendance. An hour ago the local Health Department sent out a shotgun notice to all daycares that our fair city (or perhaps nation?) is experiencing an outbreak of Shigella and reminding centers to report illness, how to clean, etc. Of course, I have no reason to believe any kid that will be here in the next hour has Shigella or has been exposed to it -- BUT, if I wanted to bump my FC "just in case," what level should I shoot for . . . . my CYA is 30 to 40 and my current FC is 5, pH is 7.5. Thanks in advance for any info. Chem Geek, I searched for the answer but did not find it in layman's terms on TFP or Google -- sorry if I missed it.

 

[jblizzle]

You can safely swim up to shock level for your FC, so you have a lot of room to boost the FC. No idea what would be required for your current concern though.

 

[Divin Dave]

I wouldnt know what to specifically bump it to either, but 4 daycares full of kits is a lot of kids if you ask me. If it were me, I would bump it up to a couple ppms shy of SLAM level, just in case I needed it. You never know what a kid, especially daycare age, is gonna do.

 

[chem geek]

As shown in this link and this link it takes a very low chlorine level to kill the Shigella bacteria. There are two strains, but the more common one is Shigella dysenteriae which would be 99.9% killed in around a minute at the chlorine levels we recommend. The more resistant strain Shigella sonnei will be 99% killed in around 8 minutes -- still far faster than it can reproduce (i.e. 50% killed every 75 seconds).

 

[crek31]

Thank you, Chem Geek. That is the info I was after. And, there were only six kids total, but representing 4 daycares (i.e., 4 places to have been exposed).