Not sure how beaver fever got down Niagara way, but health types have confirmed 18 cases of giardia with about 50 more under investigation.

The Beacon Harbourside Inn pool in Lincoln has been temporarily closed.

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Valerie Jaeger told the St. Catharines Standard, “This is not the type of outbreak that would spread from person to person,” adding it’s “absolutely not” a public health emergency.

“It would be confined pretty much to the people who had been in the pool.”

Jaeger said the tiny Giardia parasite is well known in Canada as “beaver fever”. It’s transmitted orally through water from even small amounts of fecal matter.

It originates in infected intestines and can cause bloating, abdominal pain, cramps and diarrhea.