Breathing difficulties after showering

Eleven students and a teacher suffer breathing difficulties after taking a shower in the pool

13.12.2012

Rüsselsheim. Several primary school students and their teacher complained on Wednesday after having showered in a Rüsselsheim swimming pool about significant breathing difficulties and skin irritation. However, the alarmed emergency services could not determine a cause of the complaints. After detailed examinations by the local emergency physicians and the clinics, the affected persons were able to return home.

Samples of shower water are examined
What caused the respiratory problems and skin irritation of the eleven students and their teacher, according to the city of Rüsselsheim is so far unclear. An initial inspection of the shower water by the fire department on site gave no indication. The district health department will now examine further samples of shower water in the laboratory. The police are currently investigating the case and the municipality announced its turn to a review. In addition, already yesterday, the water pipes were thoroughly rinsed. The school for severely handicapped children, to which the swimming pool belongs, which is used by the pupils of the neighboring elementary school, remained closed for the time being.

Cause of complaints in third-graders so far unclear
The incident in the Rüsselsheim swimming pool is a mystery to the authorities. Especially since the affected third graders „did not go into the pelvis“ But it happened when the students have showered, explained the Deputy Head of the State School Office for the district of Gross-Gerau and the Main-Taunus district, Klaus-Jürgen Feine-Koch. Corresponding respiratory complaints and skin irritation are a typical indication of contact with chlorine concentrations that are too high, which would be more likely to be expected in pool water than in shower water. However, around half of the twenty third-grade students suffered from breathing difficulties and skin irritation immediately after showering. So far it remains open, whereby the impairments of the pupils were conditioned.

All affected students are doing well
The teacher responded to the situation very prudently and promptly alerted the ambulance, reports Feine-Koch. The rescue service and the fire department had been called in as well. First, an examination of the eight- to ten-year old students by the emergency physicians on site. Subsequently, eleven of the children were transferred to the hospital for further examinations. However, the students were able to be released immediately after the hospital examination. All children are fine, said Feine-Koch. „We fell a stone from the heart, the students fell a stone from the heart and the teacher has fallen a stone from the heart“, said the deputy head of the school administration. Nevertheless, the result of the investigation into the causes of the incident is eagerly awaited, even as it must be ruled out that the events are repeated in a comparable form. (Fp)

Picture: Rainer Sturm