Olympic Athletes Fall Ill After Swim in the Seine: Is Water Quality to Blame?
A small number of Olympic athletes have reportedly fallen ill shortly after the swimming portion of triathlon events held in the Seine resumed in Paris.
Though the illnesses have not been officially linked to bacteria or other microbes in the river, high levels of contamination in bodies of water have the potential to cause health issues, ranging from gastrointestinal and skin infections to eye, ear, and upper airway irritation, an infectious disease expert previously explained to MedPage Today.
Belgian Olympic team triathlete Claire Michel was hospitalized and treated for an E. coli infection Sunday after swimming in the Seine last Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. The team forfeited from Monday’s mixed competition triathlon.
Just 3 days after the men’s triathlon, the Switzerland Olympic team said that one of its athletes had a stomach infection and would not compete in the mixed relay event, the AP reported. However, it was “impossible to say” if the athlete’s infection was linked to water quality in the Seine, the team said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Swiss athlete’s replacement also fell ill with a stomach infection, but Swiss officials said that athlete hadn’t previously been in the Seine, according to NBC’s Today Show.
William Schaffner, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee and a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, cautioned against jumping to any conclusions about the reported illnesses in athletes who had been in the river. Anecdotes do not prove that there is a “rate of illness that exceeds the normally expected rate,” he said.
“There are no reports of widespread illness, which is very reassuring,” Schaffner said. “Let’s deal with this in a cautious fashion and not make [any] direct attribution that this was caused by swimming in the Seine.”
An individual can indeed get an infection from human or animal sewage containing viruses or bacteria that could upset their intestinal tract and lead to symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever, Schaffner said. Water runoff from streets — a problem with the heavy rains that have passed through Paris during the Olympic Games — could also contain substances like oil and gasoline residue that could make a person ill if swallowed, he said.
“We all know that we shouldn’t go swimming in polluted water,” he said.
All the while, Olympic event organizers had said that water quality tests completed the day of individual triathlon races indicated “very good” bacteria levels, according to the AP.
When MedPage Today reported last week on high levels of bacteria that had returned to the Seine after a massive cleanup, Bruce Hirsch, MD, of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York, noted the volatility of water quality levels in any river.
Concentrations of E. coli above 900 colony-forming units per 100 mL of water are considered unhealthy and potentially risky. And warm weather promotes bacterial growth, he pointed out.
Overall, it’s “reassuring that we understand the conditions around us are changing,” Hirsch had said.
While events in the river had been canceled or postponed as recently as Sunday due to water quality and safety concerns, officials cleared swimming events for Monday based on daily water testing.
Belgian officials expressed “hope that lessons will be learned for the next triathlon competitions at the Olympic Games” in a statement released in Dutch and translated to English. “We are thinking here of the guarantee of training days, competition days and the competition format which must be clarified in advance and ensure that there is no uncertainty for the athletes, the entourage and the supporters.”
