A highly contagious form of diarrhea is wiping out Clevelanders left and right as they try to finish up the final work week before the holidays.
The Cleveland Department of Public Health is warning residents who feel a little, er, uncomfortable to seek professional care as they may have contracted a disease called Shigellosis.
From the sounds of it, the disease is spreading quickly via person-to-person contact, mostly amongst small children.
Here’s what the folks at the health department are suggesting to prevent further outbreaks:
– Wash your hands with soap frequently, especially after using the bathroom, changing diapers and before preparing food or beverages.
– Do not prepare food for others while ill with diarrhea.
– Sick children AND adults should stay home until cleared by a doctor to return to school or work.
– Keep children with diarrhea out of childcare settings and common play areas.
– Supervise toddlers and small children as they wash their hands after using the toilet.
– Dispose of soiled diapers properly and disinfect diaper-changing areas after using them.
– Don’t drink or swallow water from ponds, lakes, or untreated pools.
Officials say children with Shigellosis should not return to school or daycare until symptoms cease and lab tests are negative.
This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2013.
Silly Clevelanders, drinking the pond water again. Sure am glad I live in PITTSBURGH!
We cant help ourselves. Sick in the bathroom is better than watching the Browns anymore
At least our quarter backs are not alleged rapists.
And remember virtually no restaurant worker in this town has paid sick leave. Bon Appetit!
Shillgelosis is contracted from watching a season of The Cleveland Browns
Sounds like your diarrhea comes out your other end from where ours does, Aaron – and BTW, WE’RE also glad you live in pburgh.
I know we have had confirmed cases of this in Canton. It is highly contagious.
Bleach Bleach Bleach the bathrooms.
Virtually no restaurant worker in any city gets paid sick leave.
well that explains last tuesday
Hey Pittspuker, who read the article to you?
Pittspuker, how original. I do have to say that at least we have no history of our river catching fire………
city was on flame 2////w/rock n roll….where do u think pburg bottle water comes from?//lol
and twas the lake tupid
If you children don;t start behaving and getting along I am gonna turn this car around and head straight home!
Chuckles….read your history.
The story of the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 – the event that sparked pop songs, lit the imagination of an entire nation, and badly tarnished a city’s reputation – is built more on myths than reality. Yes, an oil slick on the Cuyahoga River – polluted from decades of industrial waste – caught fire on a Sunday morning in June 1969 near the Republic Steel mill, causing about $100,000 worth of damage to two railroad bridges. Initially the fire drew little attention, either locally or nationally. The ’69 fire was not even the first time that the river burned. Dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century, the river had caught fire on several other occasions.
The picture of the Cuyahoga River on fire that ended up in Time Magazine a month later – a truly arresting image showing flames leaping up from the water, completely engulfing a ship – was actually from a much more serious fire in November 1952. No picture of the ’69 river fire is known to exist.
Throughout much of Cleveland’s history, water pollution did not trouble the city’s residents too much. Instead, water pollution was viewed as a necessary consequence of the industry that had brought the city prosperity. This attitude began to change in the 1960s as ideas associated with what would become known as environmentalism took shape. In 1968, Cleveland residents overwhelmingly passed a $100 million bond initiative to fund the Cuyahoga’s clean up. Also, by this time deindustrialization was somewhat alleviating the pollution problem, as factories closed or cut back operations. Ironically, the city and its residents were beginning to take responsibility for the cleanliness of the river in the years before the infamous fire of 1969.
The ’69 fire, then, was not really the terrifying climax of decades of pollution, but rather the last gasp of an industrial river whose role was beginning to change. Nevertheless, Cleveland became a symbol of environmental degradation. The Time article contributed to this, as did the notoriety of Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes. Stokes, who was the first black mayor of a major city when elected in 1968, became deeply involved with the issue, holding a press conference at the site of the fire the following day and testifying before Congress – including his brother US Representative Louis Stokes – to urge greater federal involvement in pollution control. The Stokes brothers’ advocacy played a part in the passage of the federal Clean Water Act of 1972. In Cleveland, a number Cleveland State University students celebrated the inaugural Earth Day in 1970 by marching from campus to the river to protest pollution.
Even though it has been misunderstood, the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire did help bring about positive change. The river’s water quality improved during the following decades, and business investors capitalized on this by converting parts of the Flats’ abandoned industrial landscape into an entertainment district featuring restaurants, nightclubs, and music venues.
Much of the industry that both made Cleveland rich and caused its river to burn may never be coming back, but Clevelanders are meeting this challenge by reshaping their city to reflect its current realities.
Videos
The Cuyahoga River Fire
The Cuyahoga River Fire, Pt. 2
Photos
“Waterfoul,” 1964
Pollution at US Steel, 1965
Oil Slick, 1965
Stokes News Conference, 1969
City Councilmen, 1964
1948 Fire
1952 Fire
Covered in oil, 1976
Subjects
Environment
Industry
Government and Politics
Tags
Carl Stokes
Cuyahoga River
fires
pollution
Cite this Page
Michael Rotman, “Cuyahoga River Fire,” Cleveland Historical, accessed December 21, 2013, http://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/63.
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remember what state the term “Hershey Squirts” comes from…that explains it all..
I had it for 6 weeks….GAWD, that was awful. I’m feeling better now
You may think its funny but its really hot and runny.
I’m sorry but I just have to laugh because I can’t think of one thing to say. It’s just soooo insane!
Discount Drug Mart and Marc’s in Lakewood are both sold out of toilet brushes.
make sure to get a proper diagnosis. i had shigella once and was misdiagnosed as having HIV-related diahrrea. i nearly dehydrated and died. thank god for an on-the-ball Social Worker named Kathleen Ruiz who got me into a proper specialist who ran the right tests and diagnosed me. one dose of Cipro and it cleared right up. this was in the 90’s.
“Silly Clevelanders, drinking the pond water again. Sure am glad I live in PITTSBURGH!”
… said no one, ever.
stay away from those horse!
Because everyone I know regularly drinks or swallows water from ponds, lakes, or untreated pools.