As if Rio does not have enough on before the Olympic Games arrive

by Brad Brooks on 14 Jun 2016 With the countdown to the Olympics already well underway, more scientists have expressed concern about the state of the city's waterways. This time it is not so much the vast array of debris that floats about, but rather the hospital grade super bacteria that has been found in not only the Olympic venues for Sailing, but also Rowing, Triathlon and some the tourist hotspots, like Ipanema.

On top of Zika, this is a real threat, and whilst the yet to be published material is based on samples from as much as four years ago, scientists are concerned that the picture is indeed far worse than will be outlined in these papers. When the environmental agency in charge also says that testing for super bugs is not included in the WHO's recommendations, you kind of feel like a lot of people are missing the point. Part of the US Rowing team can verify that, for after one training camp a while back, many had very debilitating gastro-based issues.

Of course it does not take long of the spectre of corruption to be raised and the subsequent finger pointing probably answers all of that. So whilst sewerage is clearly the main offender, there are other biological wastes making there way into the system and so the cocktail is proving to be both vast and somewhat unknown. This is of course is running in parallel with that other cross Rio has to carry, and we can only hope that there is indeed divine intervention at some point from atop Corcovado!

Original Material: -

Scientists have found dangerous drug-resistant 'super bacteria' off beaches in Rio de Janeiro that will host Olympic swimming events and in a lagoon where rowing and canoe athletes will compete when the Games start on Aug. 5. The findings from two unpublished academic studies seen by Reuters concern Rio's most popular spots for tourists and greatly increase the areas known to be infected by the microbes normally found only in hospitals.

They also heighten concerns that Rio's sewage-infested waterways are unsafe.

A study published in late 2014 had shown the presence of the super bacteria - classified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an urgent public health threat - off one of the beaches in Guanabara Bay, where sailing and wind-surfing events will be held during the Games.

The first of the two new studies, reviewed in September by scientists at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Diego, showed the presence of the microbes at five of Rio's showcase beaches, including the ocean-front Copacabana, where open-water and triathlon swimming will take place.

The other four were Ipanema, Leblon, Botafogo and Flamengo.

The super bacteria can cause hard-to-treat urinary, gastrointestinal, pulmonary and bloodstream infections, along with meningitis. The CDC says studies show that these bacteria contribute to death in up to half of patients infected.

The second new study, by the Brazilian federal government's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation lab, which will be published next month by the American Society for Microbiology, found the genes of super bacteria in the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon in the heart of Rio and in a river that empties into Guanabara Bay.

Waste from countless hospitals, in addition to hundreds of thousands of households, pours into storm drains, rivers and streams crisscrossing Rio, allowing the super bacteria to spread outside the city's hospitals in recent years.

Renata Picao, a professor at Rio's federal university and lead researcher of the first study, said the contamination of Rio's famous beaches was the result of a lack of basic sanitation in the metropolitan area of 12 million people.

'These bacteria should not be present in these waters. They should not be present in the sea,' said Picao from her lab in northern Rio, itself enveloped by stench from Guanabara Bay.

Cleaning the city's waterways was meant to be one of the Games' greatest legacies and a high-profile promise in the official 2009 bid document Rio used to win the right to host South America's first Olympics.

That goal has instead transformed into an embarrassing failure, with athletes lamenting the stench of sewage and complaining about debris that bangs into and clings to boats in Guanabara Bay, potential hazards for a fair competition.

Situation Getting Worse

Picao's study, which has undergone internal reviews at Rio's federal university, analyzed water samples taken between September 2013 and September 2014. Using 10 samples taken at five beach locations, the study found super bacteria were most present at Botafogo beach, where all samples were positive.

Flamengo beach, where spectators will gather to watch Olympic sailors vie for medals, had the super bacteria in 90 percent of samples. Ten percent of Copacabana's samples had the microbes.

Ipanema and Leblon beaches, the most popular with tourists, had samples that tested positive for super bacteria 50 and 60 percent of the time, respectively.

The Oswaldo Cruz study of the Olympic lagoon, which was peer reviewed, is based on water samples taken in 2013. It found that the lake is a potential breeding ground for super bacteria and their spread through the city.

While the studies both use water samples that are from 2013 and 2014, Picao and other experts said they had seen no advances in sewerage infrastructure in Rio to improve the situation.

Valerie Harwood, an expert in recreational water contamination and antibiotic-resistant bacteria at the University of South Florida who was not involved in the studies, said that if anything, things were getting worse, as the super bacteria naturally spread by infecting other microbes.

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. Investigators are also looking into where billions of dollars in funds went since the early 1990s, money earmarked to improve sewage services and clean Guanabara Bay.

Cedae has denied any wrongdoing. It said in an emailed statement that any super bacteria found at the beaches or the Olympic lagoon must be the result of illegal dumping into storm drains. Cedae said it carries out sewage treatment and collection in the entire 'south zone' of Rio, where the bodies of water are located and where the water samples were taken.

The presence of the super bacteria genes in the lagoon indicates the bacteria themselves had recently died or simply were not detected by testing, Harwood said.

Health experts say Rio's poor wastewater management has already created endemic illnesses associated with sewage that disproportionately impact the city's poor, including gastrointestinal and respiratory problems, Hepatitis A and severe heart and brain conditions.

Rio's Olympic organizing committee referred questions on water quality to state authorities.

Rio state's Inea environmental agency said in an emailed statement it follows the World Health Organization's recommendations for testing recreational water safety, and that searching for super bacteria is not included in that. It also said there was a lack of studies about the bacteria in water and health outcomes.

The original material was authored by Brad Brooks and published by Rueters