COMPETITORS at this August鈥檚 Olympic Games could return home with more than just their medals, a specialist in infectious diseases is warning.
鈥淚f you bring people together from all round the world, they鈥檙e almost sure to share their infections,鈥� says Nick Beeching of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK. Hazards lurk everywhere from bath water and soil to the bugs or blood that could be swapped between opponents in contact sports like boxing, he says.
Water sports are especially perilous, Beeching will tell a meeting of the UK鈥檚 Society for General Microbiology in Bath next week. Water can harbour viruses, bacteria and parasites that cause anything from diarrhoea to viral meningitis and ear infections. The hazards include schistosomal cercariae, parasite larvae that cause skin irritations known as 鈥渟wimmers鈥� itch鈥�.
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More than 40 per cent of 304 athletes competing in a triathlon in Sarawak, Malaysia, went down with leptospirosis, or Weil鈥檚 disease, four years ago. A similar outbreak occurred in 1998 among 12 per cent of 834 athletes at a triathlon in Springfield, Illinois.
And exposure to an opponent鈥檚 blood in contact sports such as boxing, may put you at risk of life-threatening viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B. 鈥淭here are difficult dilemmas, as I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 any formal global ruling on HIV or hepatitis B testing in contact sports. It starts to infringe on personal liberties,鈥� says Beeching. Athletes should also be aware of sexually transmitted diseases. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always a possibility for relaxed behaviour patterns that lead to indiscretions,鈥� he warns.
But the most devastating outbreaks could be normal infectious diseases. 鈥淚f flu rips through the Olympics, it would be a disaster,鈥� Beeching adds.