Scientist at Rio de Janeiro have found what they call a new "super-bacterium" that is resistant to antibiotics in the waters where sailors will compete in the Olympic sailing events in 2016. The bacteria is normally found in hospital waste and cause urinary, gastrointestinal, and pulmonary infections. Sailors who visited Rio for test events ahead of the games, criticized the state of the water, describing it as "filthy." More than half the water that flows into Guanabara Bay is sewage and organizers have vowed to reduce that amount by 80 percent by the time the events start in August 2016.
Do you think this bacterium causes a serious threat to competitors?
What do you think should be done about the bacterium? If the bacterium remains by August 2016, should the sailing be moved to a different location?
I do not think that this bacterium poses a serious threat to competitors because if they found the waters to be too unsafe to compete in, they may as well just relocate the event.-
I think it does cause a serious risk because if they were to have the games in the very near future they could acquire those infections. And if the bacterium is still there in time for the sailing events I think it should be moved to a safer location.
Any type of bacteria can be very dangerous. Discovering this new "super-bacterium" should set some alarms off to the people. Obviously, not dumping sewage into the bay would help drastically in cleaning the water for the Olympics. Especially for long term effects, setting up water filtration and treatment systems should be priority.
The bacterium definitely isn't safe for competitors. I think the event should just be relocated because the clean up process would take a lot of time and money especially now with this super-bacteria. Filtration and treatment systems are definitely a priority if people want the location to remain unchanged.
I think that this bacterium can pose a big threat to the competitors and if they can not solve this problem they should move it to safer waters closet to the event.
This is a serious threat to the athletes and if the water is not cleared by 2016 the sailing needs to be moved. Rio will be hosting athletes from all over the world. And as a result, the athletes deserved to be safe from all sorts of threats. I feel the government of Rio needs to have their scientist work on ridding the water of the bacterium.
any bacterium shouldnt be allowed to be taken lightly and if it can not be treated the games should not be allowed to take place in those waters. The olympics will have no problem finding a new site for the games
I think the Brazilian government should look into the situation and try to solve the problem although I have no clue how. If not move the events to safer, cleaner waters.