The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention left a mark on social media Thursday when it shared a very memorable GIF to urge good hygiene in swimming pools:
“Don’t swim or let your kids swim if sick with diarrhea,” the agency tweeted alongside the GIF, which shows an animated woman slipping down a pool slide as poop trails behind her. “One person with diarrhea can contaminate the entire pool.”
The CDC noted on its website that “diarrhea is the most common illness spread through recreational water,” adding that some of the germs behind the squirt can survive in chlorinated water for days.
The agency even offered a very descriptive passage about how the illness can spread.
“Tiny amounts of poop are rinsed off swimmers’ bottoms as they swim through the water. If someone with infectious diarrhea (which can contain up to one billion germs) gets in recreational water, germs can be washed off their bottom and contaminate the water,” the passage read. “These germs can make someone else sick if they swallow even a small amount of contaminated water.”
Obviously, don’t go into the water if you have diarrhea. If it’s caused by cryptosporidium, the CDC recommended waiting until two weeks after symptoms go away before jumping back into the pool.
It also included two very important pieces of advice even for those who don’t have diarrhea: “Don’t poop in the water” and “don’t swallow the water.”
And if that weren’t enough, the CDC has an entire webpage dedicated to what poop- and pee-filled pools can do to your eyes and lungs.
But for many folks, it was all about the GIF.
The agency has used some version of the image for years now, but this week’s tweet is spreading across social media like, well, you get the idea:
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