PHOENIX (AP) -- The City of Phoenix has temporarily closed all of its pools after an illness-causing parasite was found in a city operated pool.

City Manager Frank Fairbanks announced Monday evening that the parasite cryptosporidium had been detected in the Starlight Park pool in the Maryvale area of west Phoenix.

"Because so many of our swimmers are children, we want to be safe," Fairbanks said. "We want to be cautious."

Officials said 14 lifeguards and 15 visitors reported suffering symptoms of the illness, leading the city to test for the microscopic parasite.

Though the contamination is believed to be just at the one site, city officials decided to shut down every pool as a precautionary measure because some lifeguards work at numerous facilities.

The pools will be super-chlorinated to 40 parts per million for 48 hours, twice the rate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recommend to kill the parasite, city officials said.

The pools will remain closed for at least a few days as chlorine levels are brought back down to the standard level of one to three parts per million.

Officials assured the public Monday evening the outbreak has nothing to do with drinking water, as Phoenix has regularly checked its water for the parasite for the past 10 years.

This is the first confirmed outbreak of cryptosporidium in the history of Phoenix, Fairbanks said.

The CDC describes cryptosporidium or crypto as a parasite that causes diarrhea in humans and animals, usually lasting a week.

It lives in the intestine and is passed in the stool of infected individuals.

The parasite can be found in fresh water such as the Salt River, said Dr. Bob England, director of Maricopa County Public Health.

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Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

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