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Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Widespread in Hudson River, Study Finds—Ongoing Risks Come From Sewage
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/news-events/antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-widespread-hudson-river-study-finds[font face=Serif][font size=5]Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Widespread in Hudson River, Study Finds[/font]
July 17, 2013
[font size=4]Ongoing Risks Come From Sewage[/font]
[font size=3]The risk of catching some nasty germ in the Hudson River just started looking nastier. Disease-causing microbes have long been found swimming there, but now researchers have documented antibiotic-resistant strains in specific spots, from the Tappan Zee Bridge to lower Manhattan. The microbes identified are resistant to ampicillin and tetracycline, drugs commonly used to treat ear infections, pneumonia, salmonella and other ailments. The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Water and Health.
“If you find antibiotic-resistant bacteria in an ecosystem, it’s hard to know where they’re coming from,” said study co-author Andrew Juhl, a microbiologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “In the Hudson, we have a strong case to make that it’s coming from untreated sewage.”
On repeated visits to 10 locations on the Hudson, the researchers found microbes resistant to ampicillin 84 percent of the time, and resistant to tetracycline 38 percent of the time. The stretches harboring the most sewage-indicator bacteria also generally contained the most antibiotic-resistant ones. These were led by Flushing Bay, near LaGuardia Airport, followed by Newtown Creek, on the border of Brooklyn and Queens; and sewage outfall pipes near Piermont Pier in Rockland County, N.Y.; West 125th Street in Manhattan; and Yonkers, in Westchester County, N.Y.. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria found include potentially pathogenic strains of the genera Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Proteus and Escherichia.
“They could be difficult to treat in people with compromised immune systems,” said Dr. Stephen Morse, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study. “If I were inclined to swim in the Hudson, quite truthfully I’d look to this paper for the places to stay away from.”
…[/font][/font]
July 17, 2013
[font size=4]Ongoing Risks Come From Sewage[/font]
[font size=3]The risk of catching some nasty germ in the Hudson River just started looking nastier. Disease-causing microbes have long been found swimming there, but now researchers have documented antibiotic-resistant strains in specific spots, from the Tappan Zee Bridge to lower Manhattan. The microbes identified are resistant to ampicillin and tetracycline, drugs commonly used to treat ear infections, pneumonia, salmonella and other ailments. The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Water and Health.
“If you find antibiotic-resistant bacteria in an ecosystem, it’s hard to know where they’re coming from,” said study co-author Andrew Juhl, a microbiologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “In the Hudson, we have a strong case to make that it’s coming from untreated sewage.”
On repeated visits to 10 locations on the Hudson, the researchers found microbes resistant to ampicillin 84 percent of the time, and resistant to tetracycline 38 percent of the time. The stretches harboring the most sewage-indicator bacteria also generally contained the most antibiotic-resistant ones. These were led by Flushing Bay, near LaGuardia Airport, followed by Newtown Creek, on the border of Brooklyn and Queens; and sewage outfall pipes near Piermont Pier in Rockland County, N.Y.; West 125th Street in Manhattan; and Yonkers, in Westchester County, N.Y.. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria found include potentially pathogenic strains of the genera Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Proteus and Escherichia.
“They could be difficult to treat in people with compromised immune systems,” said Dr. Stephen Morse, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study. “If I were inclined to swim in the Hudson, quite truthfully I’d look to this paper for the places to stay away from.”
…[/font][/font]
