A fisherman paddles in the polluted Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, venue for the rowing events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, on July 1, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo : Getty Images/Mario Tama)
Brazil is already reeling under several problems ahead of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics scheduled to kick off from Aug. 5. Aside from the Zika virus threat, two separate unpublished studies have found the presence of anti-biotic resistant super bacteria in the waters of Rio de Janeiro.
A group of scientists, who detected the bacteria from samples collected between 2013 and 2014, has claimed that the super bacteria entered the waterways of the city through sewage released from local hospitals entered into the bay. The super bacteria have been identified as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE).
Renta Picao, a professor from the federal university of Rio, who led one of the studies to examine the bacterial contamination in five stunning beaches in Rio, told CNN, "We have been looking for 'super bacteria' in coastal waters during a one-year period in five beaches." She further said that they discovered that threats in the coastal waters of the city are related to high degree of pollution.
While the samples were collected some time back, Picao feels that there is no reason to believe that the concentration of the bacteria in the waters has changed. This is primarily because raw sewage continues to flow into several waterways. The research team said that they will publish their findings few weeks before the Games.
The super bug was detected in the sea front at Copacabana, which will host open-water and triathlon swimming events of the Games. In addition, the presence of the bug was also found in showcase beaches like Ipanema, Leblon, Botafogo and Flamengo.
However, experts are of the view that the findings of the studies are not enough reason to change the Games venues. Picao is of the view that further studies are required to precisely determine the harm these bacteria can when humans are exposed to them.
The super bacteria have the potential to cause pulmonary, urinary, gastrointestinal, and bloodstream infections together with meningitis, findings of studies undertaken by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out. The studies showed that almost half the patients infected by these super bugs succumb to the contagions.
The CDC revealed that as CRE bacteria are resistant to many antibiotics, infection can be potentially deadly. However, healthy people always do not get CRE infections, it stated, adding, usually patients in nursing homes, hospitals and other health care environs are more susceptible to these bacteria.
Watch the contaimnation of Brazil's beaches ahead of the Rio Olympics below:
