Post by account_disabled on Mar 6, 2024 1:21:48 GMT -6
Olympic sailor Erik Heil has a novel idea to protect himself from the sewage-infested waters in which he and other athletes will compete during next year's Olympics: he would don a plastic jumpsuit, which he would only remove when he is within reach. except, beyond the contaminated liquid. Heil, 26, was treated in a Berlin hospital for MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a flesh-eating bacteria, shortly after sailing last August in an Olympic test event in Rio de Janeiro. He seems determined not to be deterred by what happened, but his strategy to avoid getting infected again won't limit his risk. In December, a new round of testing by the AP showed that the waterways of the city hosting the next Olympic Games are just as riddled with pathogens both far from the coast as they are near land, where raw sewage flows from fetid rivers and storm drains. This means that there is no dilution factor in the bay or lagoon where the events will take place and, of course, the risk to the health of athletes and/or sailors who compete further from the shores is no less.
Those levels of virus have become widespread. "It's not just along the coast, but anywhere in the water, so it's going to increase the exposure America Mobile Number List of people who come into contact with those waters," said Kristina Mena, an expert on waterborne viruses. and associate professor of public health at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “We are talking about an extreme environment, where contamination is so high that exposure is imminent and the possibility of infection very likely.” Last July it was announced that a first round of testing showed disease-causing viruses directly linked to human wastewater at levels up to 1.7 million times higher than what is considered highly alarming in the United States or Europe. Experts said athletes were competing in the viral equivalent of sewage and with almost undoubted health risk exposure. The results sent a warning signal to the entire global sports community, while sports authorities pledged to carry out their own viral tests to ensure that the waters are safe during competition at next year's games.
Those promises took on greater urgency in August, after the pre-Olympic rowing and sailing events in Rio led to illnesses among athletes at nearly double the acceptable limit for swimmers in recreational waters in the United States. However, Olympic and World Health Organization (WHO) officials never agreed on promises to carry out viral testing in the wake of the July report. Now, the most recent tests show not only that there is no improvement in water quality, but that the water is even more contaminated than previously thought. The number of viruses found more than a kilometer from the coast in Guanabara Bay, where sailors race at high speeds and (obviously) end up completely soaked, are equal to those found along the coasts closer to wastewater sources. “The virus levels are so high in these Brazilian waters that if we see those levels here in the United States, on the beaches, officials would probably close those beaches,” Mena said. Brazilian, Olympic and WHO officials now say that Brazil only needs to carry out testing for bacterial “markers” of contamination to determine water quality.
Those levels of virus have become widespread. "It's not just along the coast, but anywhere in the water, so it's going to increase the exposure America Mobile Number List of people who come into contact with those waters," said Kristina Mena, an expert on waterborne viruses. and associate professor of public health at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “We are talking about an extreme environment, where contamination is so high that exposure is imminent and the possibility of infection very likely.” Last July it was announced that a first round of testing showed disease-causing viruses directly linked to human wastewater at levels up to 1.7 million times higher than what is considered highly alarming in the United States or Europe. Experts said athletes were competing in the viral equivalent of sewage and with almost undoubted health risk exposure. The results sent a warning signal to the entire global sports community, while sports authorities pledged to carry out their own viral tests to ensure that the waters are safe during competition at next year's games.
Those promises took on greater urgency in August, after the pre-Olympic rowing and sailing events in Rio led to illnesses among athletes at nearly double the acceptable limit for swimmers in recreational waters in the United States. However, Olympic and World Health Organization (WHO) officials never agreed on promises to carry out viral testing in the wake of the July report. Now, the most recent tests show not only that there is no improvement in water quality, but that the water is even more contaminated than previously thought. The number of viruses found more than a kilometer from the coast in Guanabara Bay, where sailors race at high speeds and (obviously) end up completely soaked, are equal to those found along the coasts closer to wastewater sources. “The virus levels are so high in these Brazilian waters that if we see those levels here in the United States, on the beaches, officials would probably close those beaches,” Mena said. Brazilian, Olympic and WHO officials now say that Brazil only needs to carry out testing for bacterial “markers” of contamination to determine water quality.