POWELL, OH (WCMH) – Health officials in Delaware County are investigating 19 cases of people with stomach problems who visited Zoombezi Bay, a local water park.

The Delaware General Health District said the people had cryptosporidiosis or cryptosporidiosis-like symptoms. The disease, caused by a parasite, can cause diarrhea and other intestinal troubles. It is sometimes referred to as Crypto for short.

John Gannon, the general manager at Zoombezi Bay, said 340,000 people have visited Zoombezi Bay since Memorial Day.

During that time, Delaware County health officials said 19 visitors to the water park reported intestinal distress.

“That number does include some folks that went to the water park with symptoms of diarrhea, went into the water, and some of that includes some folks who went into the water and contracted it because of those people that went in with symptoms,” said Traci Whittaker, the public information officer for the Delaware General Health District.

The health district said the original 14 people with symptoms reported they began between July 9 and 26.

Erica Hawkins, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, said that because of the possibility of Crypto, it recommended Zoombezi Bay super-chlorinate or “shock” all its pools on July 20.

“That means we raised the chlorine levels 10 times their normal levels, to 20 parts per million,” John Gannon said. “And that if there was anything in the water at that point, it would have killed it instantly.”

Gannon said an independent lab tests all 7 pools at the park every 2 weeks for 23 microorganisms, including Crypto. He said all the tests before and after July 20 have come back negative.

Still, he said the park is urging guests to be careful and take responsibility by staying out of the pool if they’re sick and taking frequent bathroom breaks.

“[Even] one is too many, obviously,” Gannon said. “Our contention is we don’t think those people did get sick here, because of our testing, and we do think that the water is clean.”

The health district said that while no other cases have been reported, it is taking calls from people who said they’ve had similar symptoms.

Anyone with symptoms is asked to report it to his or her local health district. In Ohio, Crypto is a class B reportable disease, which means it must be reported to the health department.