Did the Seine poison a Belgian triathlete? | EUROtoday
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Dreception for the French blended triathlon group, this Monday, August 5, in Paris. However, they had been the favorites after their good particular person outcomes final week. They solely completed fourth within the relay gained by Germany after their first relay runner, Pierre Le Corre, fell on his bike. Emma Lombardi, bronze medalist Léo Bergère and new Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand had been unable to make up for the early deficit.
For the Belgian group, the frustration was most likely even higher: they had been unable to take the beginning and defend their possibilities. Belgium withdrew from the occasion. The trigger was the well being of Claire Michel, one of many members of the Belgian Hammers, who fell ailing final week.
“Claire Michel, a member of the relay, is unfortunately ill and must withdraw from the competition. […] The decision, like this communication, was taken in consultation with the athletes and their entourage,” announced the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee (COIB), in a press release.
Rumor
According to the Belgian press – which cites stomach and intestinal problems – Claire Michel fell ill after swimming in the Seine on Wednesday 31 July as part of the women's triathlon, where she finished 38th.e. The Flemish daily The Standard did not even hesitate to write that Claire Michel, infected by the bacteria “E. coli”, had been hospitalized.
A rumor that forced the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee to provide, through the press, clarifications concerning the state of health of the triathlete member of its delegation. No, the athlete concerned has not been hospitalized to date.
But, unfortunately, the Belgian is not the only one affected. Two Swiss triathletes are also ill: Adrien Briffod is suffering from a gastrointestinal infection. He was supposed to be replaced by Simon Westermann… who is also ill.
Case handle
Faced with this small handful of cases, hasty conclusions are tempting, and some give in to them. “After tests, it turns out that the Brussels woman was contaminated by a bacteria when she passed through the Seine,” writes the daily. Free BelgiumIt should be noted, however, that one of the two Swiss athletes affected by gastrointestinal problems has never yet swum in the Seine.
The Swiss team doctor is less definitive. “It is impossible to say whether Briffod's infection is linked to the water quality of the Seine, which was the subject of much discussion before the individual events. A survey of my colleagues from other countries has so far not revealed any accumulation of gastrointestinal illnesses among the athletes who started the individual race last Wednesday,” emphasizes Hanspeter Betschart, doctor of the Swiss delegation.
So, can bathing water potentially make athletes sick, even though Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the resigning Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, indicates that “that day, the quality of the water was particularly good”?
Digestive flora of humans and animals
As we explained in one of our recent investigations, the Île-de-France Regional Health Agency gave the green light a year ago, after a battery of tests: the Bathing Plan, into which the State and the Île-de-France communities have injected 1.4 billion euros over the past ten years to carry out colossal works, with the Olympic Games serving as an “accelerator”, has produced its effects.
Today, chemical pollution (heavy metals, PAHs, PCBs, etc.) has almost disappeared. In the crosshairs of controls, now, is microbiological pollution linked to contaminants coming almost exclusively from fecal matter contained in wastewater.
READ ALSO 2024 Olympics: Belgian triathlete “sick” after the occasion within the Seine
Health authorities measure the presence of each forms of micro organism: Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci. Why them? “They belong to the digestive flora of people and animals. They are subsequently an oblique marker of fecal air pollution,” explains Professor François-Xavier Weill, microbiologist and director of the reference center for colonic waters at the Pasteur Institute. “Their presence may also point out that of different pathogens equivalent to salmonella or viruses,” he specifies.
The size of the “cup” that is drunk
The thresholds determining the swimmability of water were set in 2006 by a European directive and confirmed by ANSES (National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety).
For bathing water to be classified as “good” or “average” quality, the concentrations ofEscherichia coli measured must be less than 1,800 CFU/100 ml, and less than 660 CFU/100 ml for intestinal enterococci. The sports federations, for Paris 2024, have retained thresholds set respectively at 1,000 CFU/100 ml and 400 CFU/100 ml.
The tolerated levels of “E.Coli” for these Olympic Games are particularly low. And they are not all “unhealthy”, far from it. “The overwhelming majority of “E.Coli”, which all of us carry, will not be pathogenic, underlines Professor François-Xavier Weill. Most are benign and don’t trigger signs.”
And if, by chance, a swimmer swallows a pathogen, it all depends on the size of the “cup” that is drunk. “The germ must be very concentrated to get sick, to not point out that we’re speaking about high-level athletes, not aged folks with weakened immune methods.”
The Parisian river is therefore a convenient scapegoat. “Quite actually, if there have been an issue of great contamination of the Seine, with pathogens able to infecting high-level athletes, there wouldn’t be only one or two circumstances,” smiles the microbiologist. Triathletes run at the same time, all swallow the same amount of water and are all in good physical shape. And then, let's remember that “E. coli” infections, like cystitis, are among the most common bacterial infections in the population.” Not sufficient to cry foul, briefly.
https://www.lepoint.fr/sante/jo-2024-la-seine-a-t-elle-empoisonne-une-triathlete-belge-05-08-2024-2567246_40.php