--- title: CDC: Hotel Pools Are a Major Source of Waterborne Illness description: Hotel pools, hot tubs and spas were behind a third of the 494 waterborne disease outbreaks observed by the CDC between 2000 and 2014. canonical: https://time.com/5280710/hotel-pools-spread-disease/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-17T17:00:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:18:10.510Z article:section: Health og:title: Hotel Pools and Hot Tubs Are Major Sources of Waterborne Illness og:description: According to a CDC report og:url: https://time.com/5280710/hotel-pools-spread-disease/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa79acb971380fe0/698930a1fb4eaca0f4896a0e/hotel-pool.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5349 og:image:height: 3009 og:image:alt: hotel pool og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hotel Pools and Hot Tubs Are Major Sources of Waterborne Illness twitter:description: According to a CDC report twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa79acb971380fe0/698930a1fb4eaca0f4896a0e/hotel-pool.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hotel Pools and Hot Tubs Are Major Sources of Waterborne Illness Outbreaks, CDC Says > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 17, 2018 5:00 PM UTC  Swimming pool, Saipan. Swimming pool, Saipan. Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 17, 2018 5:00 PM UTC You may want to think twice before taking a dip on your next vacation, [according to the results of a new report](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6719a3.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6719a3%5Fw) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Between 2000 and 2014, the CDC recorded 493 disease outbreaks related to treated recreational water, resulting in more than 27,000 illnesses and eight deaths. And in almost a third of those outbreaks, the infections could be traced back to hotel pools, [hot tubs](http://time.com/3650083/hot-tubs-dangerous/) and spas, the CDC says. In hotels, pools were a major culprit, but 65 cases stemmed from hot tubs or spas. Of the outbreaks with a confirmed cause, the vast majority — 94% — were due to pathogens, while the remaining outbreaks were caused by chemicals. Cryptosporidium (also called Crypto) — which is a parasite that causes diarrhea and other gastrointestinal issues — caused 212 outbreaks and more than 21,700 illnesses over the 14 years. It’s typically spread when a person swims while they have diarrhea, putting others at risk of swallowing contaminated water. Legionella, which causes the serious pneumonia-like illness Legionnaires’ disease, as well as the less-severe Pontiac fever, was responsible for 57 outbreaks and 624 illnesses. (At least six of the eight deaths were caused by Legionella, the CDC says.) Pseudomonas, which results in swimmer’s ear or a skin condition known as “hot tub rash,” caused 47 outbreaks and 920 infections. Outbreaks spiked during June, July and August, but they were observed all year long throughout the study period. The prevalence of waterborne disease outbreaks highlights how difficult they can be to prevent, the report says. Crypto, for example, can survive even in properly maintained and chlorinated pools, and Pseudomonas and Legionella thrive in slimy areas in hot tubs, pools and water playgrounds. While hotels, water parks and public pools can minimize these risks through adequate maintenance, much of the burden of prevention falls on swimmers, especially when it comes to keeping Crypto out of the water. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5280710/hotel-pools-spread-disease/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5280710/hotel-pools-spread-disease/"},"headline":"Hotel Pools and Hot Tubs Are Major Sources of Waterborne Illness Outbreaks, CDC Says","datePublished":"2018-05-17T17:00:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:18:10.510Z","description":"Your dip may be dirtier than you think","url":"https://time.com/5280710/hotel-pools-spread-disease/","keywords":["Public Health","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa79acb971380fe0/698930a1fb4eaca0f4896a0e/hotel-pool.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa79acb971380fe0/698930a1fb4eaca0f4896a0e/hotel-pool.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"hotel pool","caption":"hotel pool","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5280710/hotel-pools-spread-disease/","name":"Hotel Pools and Hot Tubs Are Major Sources of Waterborne Illness Outbreaks, CDC Says"}}]}] ```