Five children intoxicated in the pool (one serious): from burns to infections, here are the risks of inhaling chlorine

A festive day spent at the swimming pool risked turning into a tragedy in Rome. Five children ended up in hospital after swimming, one of them seriously ill and in intensive care with the risk of serious neurological damage. The hypothesis is that those sicknesses are linked to chlorine intoxication. Police investigations into the incident are now under way, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office, which has opened a file for injury and ordered the pool to be seized and the water analysed. For the Society of Environmental Medicine (Sima), the incident that occurred in Rome is only the latest in a series of serious episodes that are occurring with increasing frequency in Italian swimming pools, and that put citizens' health at risk.

The alarm went off around 10am yesterday at a sports club in Via Capanna Murata, in the Borghesiana area on the south-eastern outskirts of the capital. 'Mummy, the water is turning yellow,' one of the children suddenly said. But the stampede from the pool was not enough. The children started coughing, experiencing breathing difficulties and skin irritations. So the 118 emergency services were called in with several vehicles. The staff rescued the little ones and transported them to the Umberto I Polyclinic by ambulance. They were four little brothers aged 5, 7, 9 and 11 and a 7-year-old girl. Two of them were discharged immediately after treatment in the emergency room, two others are now in the ward while the most serious, who is nine years old, is still in intensive care. The child risks serious neurological damage from chlorine inhalation. In Sima's sights end up above all 'the chemical products normally used for disinfecting swimming pool water (e.g. sodium and calcium hypochlorite, sulphuric acid, trichloroisocyanuric acid, etc.)'. And these are products that "are classified as dangerous because they are largely corrosive," explains Sima president, Alessandro Miani. "If hypochlorites and chloroisocyanurates come into contact with acidity correctors (sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, etc.) they can release chlorine gas, a toxic gas for inhalation that is responsible for acute intoxications, even very serious ones.

But what are the actual risks of poisoning? The Society of Environmental Medicine tries to line them up: "Few people are aware that widespread substances such as chlorine and ammonia cause serious burns in the nose, throat, eyes, trachea and large airways in humans even only a few minutes after exposure, and often cause coughing and the emission of blood with sputum, Chronic chlorine intoxication leads to conjunctivitis, anaemia, chronic bronchitis, neuropsychic alterations, dyspeptic disorders, dental changes, kidney failure and oedema,' Miani continues. In the case of prolonged and massive exposure, more serious complications can occur, such as airway lesions and lung infections. Cases of intoxication in Italian swimming pools are unfortunately increasing: however, the people most at risk are workers in the production of insecticides, disinfectants, metallurgy, and those working in the field of water purification,' Sima's president concludes.