Writer/Surfer

Surfers in the United Kingdom are three times more likely to carry antibiotic-resistant superbugs than non-surfers, according to a newly published study. All because they swallow up to ten times more seawater.

Researchers from the University of Exeter took fecal samples from 273 subjects in the UK, half of which are regular surfers. They also tested the resistance of each person’s gut to a popular antibiotic, cefotaxime. They found that among surfers, nine percent harbored an antibiotic-resistant form of E. coli, while among non-surfers only three percent carried the bacteria.

“We looked for a particular type of E. coli (E. coli ST131) that is highly virulent and resistant and is spreading worldwide,” lead researcher Dr. Anne Leonard told IFLScience. “It typically causes extra-intestinal (i.e. not gastrointestinal) infections such as urinary tract infections.”

Dr. Leonard and her team initiated what they call the Beach Bums project in an effort to quantify the impact of environmental factors spreading drug-resistant bacteria. It’s due in part to antibiotics being prescribed inappropriately – namely for viral infections, on which the meds have no impact – and antibiotics being mixed into animal feed as a preventative.

What explains the increased antibiotic resistance among surfers? Professor Colin Garner, chief executive and founder of Antibiotic Research UK, a non-profit designed to combat antibiotic resistance, told The Independent that antibiotics typically leach into the environment from farms, sewage, and other means, putting surfers at greater risk.

Surfers in the US, Australia, and elsewhere thanking God they don’t live in the UK shouldn’t count their blessings so fast. Several years ago, researchers at UC Berkeley, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, and the Surfrider Foundation found that surfers stateside were at increased risk of falling ill the more time they spent in the ocean. The chances of getting sick, according to that study, were 25 in 1,000 on a dry day and 32 in 1,000 following rainy conditions.

So is staying out of the water the answer? Let’s hope not. As senior editor Alex Haro so aptly said nearly two years ago following the UC Berkeley study: “Maybe we should stop pumping so much toxic shit into the environment.”

 
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