Health Officials Trying To Explain Sick Campers Dozens Of Girl Scouts, Volunteers Fell Ill During Lake Cda Gathering

Health workers still are struggling to explain what made dozens of Girl Scouts and adult volunteers sick this month at a Scout camp along Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Officials at the Girl Scout Inland Empire Council are convinced the rash of stomach illnesses - which struck nearly half of the 90-or-so girls and about 15 counselors at the camp - was merely a 24-hour flu.

Panhandle Health District workers, meanwhile, haven’t linked the widespread vomiting, nausea and diarrhea to a contaminated water supply at the camp.

But camp officials shut down the summer-long series of seminars last week for a health inspection. After high levels of fecal contamination were found in a drinking water well, they began trucking in water with a huge National Guard tanker.

The camp reopened this week and has operated without incident.

“We do have a problem, but there is no longer a safety hazard to the girls,” said Lindy Cater, executive director of the council. “We are doing absolutely everything we can do.”

Camp Four Echoes is a lakeside retreat where Girl Scouts sleep in canvas tents for three or more days and learn about everything from swimming, boating and hiking to photography and mathematics. Thousands of Inland Northwest children attend the sessions each summer.

The recent trouble started the week of July 7, when dozens of girls - ranging in age from high school seniors to second-graders - developed abdominal pain with similar symptoms. While the sickness generally lasted only a day, the volume of cases was alarming.

“When it goes through the staff and kids like that you know you’ve got something unusual,” said Steve McMillan, a health specialist with the health district.

He still is trying to determine whether the illness was viral or bacteriological.

Staff members shut down the camp so health officials could inspect food, water and living arrangements, disinfect the infirmary and let staff members recuperate. Council members sent letters home to parents explaining the situation.

Because no other flu symptoms are present - and water no longer is being drawn from the well - council members say the camp sessions, which end Aug. 14, are safe.

A bigger concern, Cater said, is how the Scout council - now operating on an $800,000 annual budget - will pay to fix the problem.

Steve Tanner, water quality expert at the state Division of Environmental Quality, said the well problem could cost tens of thousands of dollars to replace.

“This council is in tight financial shape to begin with,” said a frustrated Cater.

, DataTimes