14 DAY TRIAL // Whenever temperatures go up, people start thinking about going for a swim in order to cool off. As enticing as the idea of taking a bath during a heat wave might sound, it looks like people would do best to avoid the Hudson River.
Scientists writing in the Journal of Water and Health argue that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are thriving in certain areas of this river.
Thus, investigations have shown that specific spots from the Tappan Zee Bridge to lower Manhattan are teeming with strains of bacteria that are resistant to ampicillin and tetracycline, Science Daily reports.
Although they cannot prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, researchers strongly suspect that these nasty bacteria were brought to the Hudson River by untreated sewage.
“If you find antibiotic-resistant bacteria in an ecosystem, it's hard to know where they're coming from. In the Hudson, we have a strong case to make that it's coming from untreated sewage,” specialist Andrew Juhl explains.
“They could be difficult to treat in people with compromised immune systems. If I were inclined to swim in the Hudson, quite truthfully I'd look to this paper for the places to stay away from,” Dr. Stephen Morse wished to stress.