Swimming in public thermal pools can bring you not only pleasant relaxation, but also sexually transmitted diseases. This is how the British Daily Mail scared tourists, telling a scandalous case with a young Austrian tourist: an 11-year-old girl fell ill with gonorrhea from swimming in a thermal pool with hot springs during a vacation in Italy. Specifically, it was about the hot springs on the island of Pantelleria off the coast of Sicily, which are called “Mirrors of Venus”, which in this case with an ambiguous hint.
The emergency happened in August 2020, but the publication decided to tell this story specifically for British tourists, because they love to swim in hot springs – in many places popular with the British – such as Italy, Turkey and Iceland. “Now that more and more Brits are going on holiday, when restrictions on Covid travel have been eased, experts say people need to be aware of the dangers of using these pools,” the paper said.
Thus, Lake Mirror of Venus, also known as Specchio di Venere / Lago di Venere, is a popular tourist destination known for its hot pools on its shores. The victim, an Austrian girl, was on vacation with her parents and seven-year-old sister in August 2020. After swimming in the lake, the 11-year-old girl also swam for an hour in a 20 cm deep thermal pool on the shore of the lake with her father and other tourists. Her sister and mother swam in a similar but separate pool, also by the lake.
Two days later, the child began to feel a painful burning sensation. She was given over-the-counter antifungal cream for a week while the family continued on vacation. The medication did not completely relieve the symptoms, so the family took the 11-year-old to a family therapist when they returned to Austria two weeks later. After examining the girl, the doctor took a smear, which showed a positive result of gonorrhea. all family members were tested for sexually transmitted infections, but the results were negative. The girl also insisted that she had no sexual contact. As a result, it was concluded that the “transmitter” was the water in the pool.
According to the publication, the little tourist, learning that she had the disease, was upset and scared that her classmates will learn about it. She was given an antibiotic injection at the hospital and then a course of antibiotic pills. As a result, according to Professor Felicity Goodyear-Smith, author of the report on the disease, despite the small delays between diagnosis and treatment due to the Covid pandemic, the girl fully recovered.
However, the rest of the tourists decided to warn that the thermal pools on the edge of the “Mirror of Venus” have a number of factors that may allow the transmission of bacteria that cause gonorrhea is possible. These lakes are “almost drainless”, the water in them is close to body temperature and slightly acidic, containing organic matter. These are all factors that can help gonorrhea bacteria survive in shallow water.
“The public needs to know about the possible dangers of sharing water in these popular places. People who bathe in shallow thermal pools, which are often visited, are at risk of exposure to pathogens from other bathers, “said Ms. Goodyear-Smith. Her British colleagues add that asexual transmission of some sexually transmitted diseases is possible – Professor Anna Garethi, an expert on infectious diseases at King’s College London, recalled that reports in the late 1800s and early 1900s showed that the infection was contagious. especially in prepubertal girls asexually – through sitting in the toilet or through the use of the same towels with infected people.
Of course, many factors must coincide for such an emergency, but the owners of thermal pools must take measures so that tourists can use them hygienically and safely. “We offer to put a shower and antibacterial soap near hot springs. The sign should inform visitors about strict hygiene before entering the pools, “said the professor. For their own safety, tourists are advised to take a shower with soap after using the shared thermal baths.