Two of Norway’s largest spas had to shut up hot tub the day after the program ‘TV 2 helped you’ found traces of legionella bacteria in their water, and human sperm in a sauna.
TV 2’s team tested the water quality, and levels of hygiene at four spa facilities in Eastern Norway. Both ‘The Well’, the largest spa in northern Norway, and ‘Norefjell Ski and Spa’ were forced to shut down and completely clean out the hot tub at the spa after legionella bacterium were found in the water. The bacterium is particularly dangerous in the hot tub, since the legionella can be inhaled from the rising steam.
‘At worst, it could be fatal,’ said a doctor specializing in the Control of Infectious Diseases, Egil Lingaas, at Oslo University Hospital.
In a sauna at ‘The Well’, semen was also discovered, while 30% higher bacterial content was detected in the main pool at Norefjell Ski and Spa than legal limit values allow.
‘I strongly regret that it has become such as it’s been discovered, and assure our customers that we will work on our routines to avoid this happening in the future,’ said Mikael Eliassen, Managing Director of Norefjell Ski and Spa. They will replace all of the pool’s technical equipment during the autumn.
The head of ‘The Well’, Espen Braaten, said that they’ve solved the problem of legionella bacterium. The spa indicated to NTB news that new tests taken on the 28th of August showed negative results for any traces of legionella bacteria.
‘In this case, of course, we immediately closed the area, and conducted thorough surveys that showed there was a construction defect in the hot tub’s whirlpool,’ said Braaten.
He had no good explanation of how the sperm came to be discovered in the sauna, but said that they undergo all their laundry routines. Common sense would suggest that since last undergoing such routines, a human male had unleashed his spermatozoa within the sauna bath area, and it was on this subject that Braaten could offer no hard and fast explanation.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today