When we think of mass afflictions of diarrhea, we think of African villagers who get their water out of a shared well located a bit too close to the shared privy. And while proper sanitary measures can mitigate the spread of organisms that want nothing more than to get in your stomach and throw a party, the price of solidity is eternal vigilance. Even in our hypersanitary culture, the scourge lurks.
Over the last couple of days, contaminated water in an upstate New York waterpark has forced over 1,800 people -- mostly kids -- to spend their weekend strapped to their toilet [1] doing their best imitation of the shooting water jets that got them sick in the first place. The culprit: cryptosporidium [2].
Sound familiar? You might remember cryptosporidium from Fredricktown, MO [3]. Or Mabbettsville, NY [4]. Or Ashland, OR [5]. Or Milwaukee, WI, when 403,000 people were infected [6]. Don't get too comfortable with your running water, America. We're not so different than Dipayal, Nepal [7]. Or Bacacay in The Philippines [8]. Or Doğubeyazıt, Turkey [9]. The city may be spelled with accent symbols we've never before seen, but that doesn't mean we can't empathize with what its residents are going through. Poor Doğubeyazıtian buggers.
Related: funny article from The Onion [10].
