MRSA scare temporarily shuts down hot pools

Possible contamination caused the town of Saratoga to close the Hot Pool last Thursday.

Town officials say the hot pool was closed after an individual, who had been admitted to the hospital for the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcis aureus (MRSA) infection, had reportedly visited the hot pool.

The individual had reportedly been to the hot pool on more than one occasion, but town officials could not confirm when the visits to the hot pool were made.

"Crews are working hard at the Hot Pool facility to get it cleaned and disinfected," Facebook post by the Town of Saratoga in the morning of Oct. 31 said. "This was a precautionary measure the town felt we needed to take after information was shared with us."

Both pools were drained and the area surrounding the pools was disinfected on Oct. 31.

Local physician Dean Bartholomew and head of the Carbon County Department of Health Jacquelyn Wells, both agreed the town took the right steps by draining and sanitizing the pool.

MRSA is a highly-contagious infection caused by a strain of staph bacteria. It is resistant to regular antibiotics used to treat staph infections. The bacteria is easily spread through skin-to-skin contact with a person who has MRSA.

The hot pool itself may not the be biggest threat to the spreading of the infection. Bartholomew, who was consulted before the town of Saratoga cleaned the hot pool, said it would have been difficult for the bacteria to spread in the pools themselves given water temperature and pH level in the hot pools.

The area around the hot pool, Bartholomew said, has a higher chance of the holding the bacteria. The MRSA bacteria is easily spread via hard surfaces, like the railings going into the hotpool or the showers.

"It is fairly easily contracted if someone is around somebody who is a carrier," Bartholomew said.

The hot pool was reopened by early afternoon on Oct. 31. There have been no reports of anyone else carrying the bacteria as a result of going to the hot pool.