A drug-resistant bacterium has been discovered growing off the shores of many Rio de Janerio beaches, CNN reports.
According to sources, the sewage from local hospitals channeled into the bay and contaminated the city’s waterways.
“We have been looking for ‘super bacteria’ in coastal waters during a one year period in five beaches,” lead researcher Renata Picao, told CNN. “We found that the threats occur in coastal waters in a variety of concentrations and that they are strongly associated with pollution.”
As Rio prepares to host several thousand athletes and tourist during next month’s 2016 Summer Olympic Games, many beaches tested positive for the bacteria, including Flamengo and Botafogo, which border the bay where Olympic sailors are scheduled to compete.
According to German Paralympic sailor Heiko Kroger, the ‘super bacteria’ may have caused a severe skin infection in one of his teammates during training. However, authorities haven’t considering changing venues yet because risks are still unknown.
“I wouldn’t say to change the venues because we don’t know the risks yet,” Picao said. “We are making this alert because, if athletes get infected there is a chance this bacteria is multi-resistant and the physicians should know about this.”
