The Olympic Games are slated to kick off in Rio just weeks from now and scientists have discovered a super bacteria lurking in the waters. This news comes after many athletes have pulled out over concerns surrounding the Zika virus. Brazilian scientists made the discovery off the shores of one of Rio’s picturesque beaches. The scientists say the super bacteria made its way into the water when hospital sewage was channeled into the waters. Two of the beaches confirmed to have the bacteria are Flamengo and Botafogo where some of the Olympic Games are slated to take place.
“We have been looking for ‘super bacteria’ in coastal waters during a one year period in five beaches,” Picao told CNN, during a visit to her lab. “We found that the threats occur in coastal waters in a variety of concentrations and that they are strongly associated with pollution.”
“It’s a nice sailing area but every time you get some water in your face, it feels like there’s some alien enemy entering your face,” German Paralympic sailor Heiko Kroger said during a recent visit to Rio. “I keep my nose and my lips closed.”
“This bacteria colonizes the intestine and it goes along with feces to the hospital sewage,” Picao said. “We believe that hospital sewage goes into municipal sewage and gets to the Guanabara Bay or to other rivers and finally gets to the beach.”
With the Zika virus already a concern for some athletes, this latest report could cause further squalls. The Olympic Games are still slated to continue even with Zika and this new threat and only time will tell if anyone will be affected.
What do you think of this new super bacteria discovery? Should athletes be worried? Let us know your thoughts and comments below or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
[button link=”http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/05/americas/rio-de-janeiro-super-bacteria/index.html” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: CNN[/button]Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
