Teh One Who Knocks
07-28-2016, 11:08 AM
By Katie Dowd - SF Gate
http://i.imgur.com/YnhvPFr.jpg
Germaphobes may want to stop reading right now.
Despite years of cleanup attempts, health experts say the waters off Rio are so disgusting, Olympic marathon swimmers, sailors and windsurfers will "literally be swimming in human crap."
A battery of tests by government and independent scientists recently revealed that seven years of cleanup attempts have done little to disinfect the petri dish of Guanabara Bay. The New York Times reports that viruses that cause diarrhea are in the waters, as well as a "superbacteria that can be fatal to people with weakened immune systems."
As a result, scientists have advised Olympians interacting with the bay to keep their mouths closed to avoid ingesting the water.
Scientists say that feces from a nearby hospital and municipal sewage plant pours into the water untreated. And if that doesn't make your lunch rise in your throat, don't forget that dead bodies — animal and human — are found floating in the bay with upsetting regularity.
"It's disgusting," Nigel Cochrane, a coach for the Spanish women's sailing team, told the Times. "We're very concerned."
Last year, an AP investigation discovered the levels of disease-causing viruses were, in some places, 1.7 million times higher than what are considered dangerous in Southern California beaches. During a surfing competition held in Rio last year, organizers say that a quarter of the participants suffered from nausea, diarrhea or vomiting after entering the water.
A German Paralympic sailor also said a teammate had a "severe skin infection" after contact with the water in training.
This, of course, is a ongoing human health crisis for the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians who have long lived with Rio's terrible sanitation standards. A public health expert told the AP that Rio's sewage system is "comparable with London or Paris in the 14th or 15th century."
http://i.imgur.com/YnhvPFr.jpg
Germaphobes may want to stop reading right now.
Despite years of cleanup attempts, health experts say the waters off Rio are so disgusting, Olympic marathon swimmers, sailors and windsurfers will "literally be swimming in human crap."
A battery of tests by government and independent scientists recently revealed that seven years of cleanup attempts have done little to disinfect the petri dish of Guanabara Bay. The New York Times reports that viruses that cause diarrhea are in the waters, as well as a "superbacteria that can be fatal to people with weakened immune systems."
As a result, scientists have advised Olympians interacting with the bay to keep their mouths closed to avoid ingesting the water.
Scientists say that feces from a nearby hospital and municipal sewage plant pours into the water untreated. And if that doesn't make your lunch rise in your throat, don't forget that dead bodies — animal and human — are found floating in the bay with upsetting regularity.
"It's disgusting," Nigel Cochrane, a coach for the Spanish women's sailing team, told the Times. "We're very concerned."
Last year, an AP investigation discovered the levels of disease-causing viruses were, in some places, 1.7 million times higher than what are considered dangerous in Southern California beaches. During a surfing competition held in Rio last year, organizers say that a quarter of the participants suffered from nausea, diarrhea or vomiting after entering the water.
A German Paralympic sailor also said a teammate had a "severe skin infection" after contact with the water in training.
This, of course, is a ongoing human health crisis for the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians who have long lived with Rio's terrible sanitation standards. A public health expert told the AP that Rio's sewage system is "comparable with London or Paris in the 14th or 15th century."