Biologist on Rio Olympics: 'Don't put your head under water'

摘要

The Olympic Games start Friday, but a 16-month study commissioned by the Associated Press shows the waters in Rio de Janeiro are still very dangerous because of contamination by raw sewage, with high potential for athletes and spectators to become violently ill. Some athletes are taking antibiotics to protect against bacteria, but that won't do any good against viruses, and nearly 90 percent of test sites showed infectious adenovirus readings. "That's a very, very, very high percentage," said Valerie Harwood, chairwoman of the integrative biology department at the University of South Florida. "Seeing that level of human pathogenic virus is pretty much unheard of in surface waters in the U.S. You would never, ever see these levels because we treat our wastewater. You just would not see this."