“Having athletes swim in the Seine took the world back 100 years,” he said. Matthew Bassetti expresses his indignation at the resumption of triathlon competitions at the 2024 Paris Olympics after Belgian athlete Claire Michel was hospitalised with a bacterial infection E. coli. “Louis Pasteur, father of modern microbiology, is turning in his grave,” added the infectious disease specialist, in a message on X.
“The the river waters are putrid and pose a serious health risk to athletes. Ultimately, theEscherichia coli is the least of the problems infectious diseases that can be contracted in the Seine. It is truly incomprehensible to think that the health of the athletes could have been put at risk, despite the scientific community having clearly warned the Organizers of the potential risks”, writes the head physician of the Policlinico San Martino in Genoa. It is in fact “a well-known problem, solvable with antibiotic therapy”. But in those “putrid waters, populated by rats and who knows what other animals”, you can also have encounters with potentially very serious risks, the expert explains to Adnkronos Salute.
The risks of polluted water
“From leptospirosis to salmonella, shigella and yersinia” are the bacterial threats listed by Bassetti. “Not to mention all the protozoa or other parasites that can arrive through the water: from amoeba to giardia”. The dangers “are truly many” and the symptoms are also quite serious: “They can range from stomach aches, diarrhea and vomiting to high fever – describes the director of Infectious Diseases at the IRCCS in Genoa – to more serious manifestations, even very serious, affecting some organs”. For Bassetti “it is truly incomprehensible how athletes could be allowed to swim in a river so polluted that it represents a risk to their health”, having allowed it “despite the scientific community having clearly warned the organizers of the potential risks”.
“The first thing that must be protected during an Olympics is the physical safety of the participants,” warns the doctor.Seeing an athlete end up in hospital is not a good thingalso because – he warns – these infections are then transmitted from person to person via the fecal-oral route. By eliminating microorganisms, infected people can infect someone else. I believe that a serious mistake has been made on this, the biggest one”, the infectious disease specialist points out. This is “yet another bad French figure in the organization of the Olympics”, Bassetti comments in another post.
The organization criticized by athletes
The organization has also been widely criticized, Bassetti recalls. “I heard athletes complain about the organization: the transportation that doesn’t work, the heat, the inadequate food. Seeing a gold medalist sleeping in a park is certainly not good publicity,” the infectious disease specialist told Adnkronos Salute, recalling the image of swimming champion Thomas Ceccon lying next to a bench in the Paris 2024 Olympic Village, where many have complained about the lack of air conditioning in the rooms. However, “beyond the problems reported in the Olympic Village, I believe that the most serious mistake was to have allowed the athletes to swim in the polluted waters of the Seine. I am increasingly amazed at how it was possible, how it was possible in these years” of preparation for the Paris Games “not to have thought of having these athletes swim somewhere else, in a safer place”.
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