Illnesses Associated to Contaminated Beach Water - Essay Example

"Illnesses Associated to Contaminated Beach Water" is a perfect example of a paper on injections. Following the storm Regina, we are advising swimmers and surfers to skip their beach surfing routines in the next few days. Beaches would be temporarily closed to the public as the recent test on beach water was found to be contaminated with pathogens and there is an elevated bacteria level due to runoff caused by the recent storm. Exposure to pathogens through accidentally swallowing contaminated water, or through entry into the nose, ear, and open wounds can cause sickness. Some of the most common illnesses which can be contracted while swimming and or surfing to contaminated water and or when bacteria levels in beaches are beyond normal are Gastroenteritis, it is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract caused by a strain of viruses such as rotavirus, calicivirus, reovirus, astroviruses, cryptosporidium, giardia, shigella, e.coli and norovirus. Symptoms include chills, nausea, diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Next is Amoebiasis it is an infectious disease caused by a parasite called Entamoeba histolytica. Symptoms include prolonged diarrhea with bleeding, abscesses of the liver and small intestine. The third is Cercarial dermatitis also popularly known as Swimmer's itch. It is a skin rash caused by treaties parasite (Fenig) (2010) or by an allergic reaction to parasites. Its symptoms include burning itchiness. Lastly, Respiratory illnesses such as Legionnaire’s Disease can easily be caught. This illness is characterized by high fever, muscle ache, and cough. It is caused by the virus legionella.  A person can contract the bacteria by simply inhaling a mist that is contaminated by legionella.

Challenges in Monitoring

Surfers usually complain of late announcements and advisory on the safety of beach waters. Though, the BEACH Act 2000 is already in effect. Currently, the method uses to determine the bacteria level on our beaches is through assessing the E-coli, enterococci, and fecal coliforms concentration through membrane filtration. However, such a process takes about 18-24 hours to complete or to see if the level of harmful pathogens is beyond normal (Wheeler) (2007). Thus, it is quite difficult to warn the public on ‘real time’ safeness or danger that our beach water poses to swimmers and surfers. The challenge at the moment is how to make the bacteria testing faster and better. In response, some researchers are now developing ‘nowcasts’, a procedure that includes the evaluation of the relationship between concentrated bacteria to wind direction, onshore conditions and nearshore conditions

Warning Information

If the beach water which was recently tested indicates there was a high-level concentration of E-coli, enterococci, and fecal coliforms a  Beach Closure is recommended to warn individuals and families who are planning to go to the beach. There was a large number of bacteria that was deposited to our shoreline beach waters from different polluted sources which included an accidental sewage discharge that was carried onto beaches and oceans, posing a great health risk to swimmers and surfers.

 

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