The bacteria are understood to contribute to death in up to half of patients infected.
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The description given for the dangers of the “super bacteria” from Reuters: “The super bacteria can cause hard-to-treat urinary, gastrointestinal, pulmonary and bloodstream infections, along with meningitis”. This study uncovered the super bacteria genes in the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, the location of rowing and canoe Olympic events.
The news about the super bacteria found in Rio’s waters comes amid the escalating concern about the ever- spreading Zika virus and domestic civil unrest in Brazil.
Renata Picao, a professor at Rio’s federal university and lead scientist in the first study, told Reuters the contamination of Rio’s famous beaches was the result of basic sanitation practices in the city populated by 12 million people.
AP analysis of water quality revealed dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria from human sewage in Olympic and Paralympic venues.
But five other beaches tested positive for microbes of the super bacteria.
The other four were Ipanema, Leblon, Botafogo and Flamengo.
“I would say to all athletes, to all visitors who plan to come to the Rio Olympics that they do not have to worry”.
Workers are pictured at the construction site of the beach volleyball venue for 2016 Rio Olympics on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 9, 2016.
Flamengo beach, where Olympic sailors will fight for medals, had the super bacteria in nine out of 10 samples while it appeared in 10 per cent of Copacabana’s samples. The Olympics has helped push the city’s waste management problem into the spotlight, but pollution is a public health concern that has plagued Rio’s inhabitants for many years with little done to resolve the problem.
Both studies – and a previous study that found similar results in Guanabara Bay – used water samples from 2013 and 2014, but experts quoted in the report say there’s scant evidence the problem has been addressed and is likely worse due to the nature of how the microbes spread.
The contamination has prompted federal police and prosecutors to investigate whether Rio’s water utility Cedae is committing environmental crimes by lying about how much sewage it treats.
Cedae denied the allegations, saying that the contamination must be caused by illegal dumping into storm drains. “That’s where the danger is – if a person then ingests that infected organism – because it will make it through their gastrointestinal tract and potentially make someone ill”. Scientists discovered that the lagoon is a possible breeding spot for super bacteria.
A second study indicates the presence of the super bacteria in even more of Rio’s busy and sewage-laden waterways.
Rio officials had promised in 2009 to get the city cleaned up.
Still according to Reuters, the immediate risk to people’s health depends on the state of their immune systems.
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The organizing committee for the games deflected Reuters’ questions to local authorities.
