This year’s biathlon World Cup opener in Ostersund has an unexpected challenge: not only do racers have to vanquish their competitors, they also have to beat the parasites that are making happy homes inside their gastrointestinal tracts.
According to The Local, a Swedish news site, 5,000 people in Ostersund are confirmed to have been infected with the parasite cryptosporidium, and it is feared that up to 9,000 could be affected. Officials are still searching for the source of the contamination in the town’s drinking water, and have told all residents to boil their water for the next several weeks. In the meantime, an investigation is being launched as to whether the contamination could have been a result of criminal negligence.
Among the victims are all of the pre-qualified U.S. athletes – Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela, Leif Nordgren, and Sara Studebaker – and all but two of the Swedish women. Burke indicated that the French and Austrian teams had also been sick, and perhaps others.
“There is not much that can be done once you get the parasite except wait it out,” Burke told FasterSkier. “The length of the illness and the symptoms are very individual. I was only really sick for less than 48 hours, while I have heard some others athletes were sick more than a week.”
According to the Center for Disease Control, cryptosporidium, or “crypto,” is one of the most common causes of waterborne disease in the United States, and throughout the world. Symptoms include stomach cramps, dehydration, nausea, vomiting, fever, and diarrhea, and the infection can be very contagious.
Because symptoms don’t appear for two to ten days after infection, there isn’t much that can be done at the beginning of an outbreak. By the time athletes heard of the danger, they were already sick.