A reminder we all should heed

August 27th, 2008

Whether you live in Hawaii or are visiting, many of us swim in natural pools and waterfalls. While this makes for what many of us consider the quintessential experience in paradise, it also needs to be mentioned that care should be exercised when swimming in streams and fresh water waterfalls/pools. Leptospirosis is a nasty bacterial disease that thrives in such environments and it’s not a fun experience. It’s typically caused by the urine of infected animals that have gone in the streams that feed these pools and waterfalls. You need to take care to not ingest the water, get it in your eyes, nose or open cuts. Symptoms can range from fever, chills, jaundice, vomiting, diarrhea and even be as severe as kidney failure if not treated.

If you want to know more about Leptospirosis, click here.