Garden pond

Question

Our grand-daughter suffers from CF, which has been diagnosed about one month after her birth. Now she is one year old.
We have a garden pond with fish. The parents of the child told us to abolish the pond after having asked the CF doctor in Cottbus, as it should be more dangerous than a wirlpool. Is probably a barrier sufficient in a certain distance?
On the neighbouring property there is also a pond, which we can not demand to abolish anyway. How are the recommendations here?

[on the 20.04.09 the question has been amended:] I would like to amend my question to the pond: how is the risk in general in the garden? That concerns especially the compost pile and the watering with a) tap water b) collected rain water c) pump water (ground water, about 3m deep).
Many thanks for your answer

Answer

Dear questioner,

Many thanks for your question.

When suffering from CF, there is an increased risk of airway infections. In small children and preschool children there are frequently infections of the deeper airways with germs, that colonize the nose and throat region as e.g. Stapylococci. From the school age on, unpretentious environmental germs such as Pseudomonas do play a role, which can colonize chronically the upper and deeper airways of a CF patient. These environmental germs live everywhere in water and earth. The number of germs however, are in the natural environment very low, so that the risk of infecton is extremly low.

These germs are going to be problematic for a CF patient only then, if they grow in large amounts in nutrient-poor fluids, that have been polluted by human beings, because other micororganisms do not grow under such nutrient-poor conditions.

Pseudmonas aeruginosa is a feared hospital germ because it grows even in disinfectants and soaps.

In a garden pond live many micororganisms as everywhere on our earth, but the problematic germs for CF patients do not occur in such a natural biotope or only in a very low number. A one year old child with CF is of course allowed to play in a garden with a garden pond as long as you can avoid that your grand-daughter can fall in the pond.

The compostpile does not represent a special risk for CF patients. Only if your grand-daughter tends to allergies, playing on the compost pile could be a problem.

Tap water and pump water do not contain a problematic humid germ for the CF patient. Only in the rainwater tank probably germs could enrich there. At the timepoint of watering the garden with rainwater, your grand-daughter should not be there implicitly.

Therefore: working in the garden is nice and the presence of your grand-daughter in the garden hopefully a pleasure for the grandparents. There is no increased risk for patients with CF from garden ponds, compost piles, tap water or ground water. Only when watering the garden with water from the rainwater tank the little CF patient should not implicilty be present.

Conclusion: Go on and have fun with your garden.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. B. Tümmler

03.06.2009