Bacterial Outbreak in NY leads to class action

More than 3,000 people were sickened by a bacterial outbreak at a water-spray park last summer in New York. Now these people have the chance to join a class-action lawsuit against the state:

Class-action status has been granted to a lawsuit filed against the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historical Preservation.

The suit allows anyone who suffered from cryptosporidiosis to join the lawsuit if the illness was a result of the outbreak at a water playground last summer at Seneca Lake State Park near Geneva in Ontario County.

The state Health Department shut down the spray park last August after it was determined that the park’s water-holding tanks, which were used to recycle water, were contaminated with cryptosporidium.

According to the Health Department, 3,297 cases of the illness were reported in 33 New York counties.

Crypto, as the parasite is commonly called, lives for long periods in water and can be passed on through human or animal feces.