“It’s not E. coli.” Belgian triathlete Claire Michel, who like some athletes from other teams has been in the news for contracting an infection after swimming in the Seine at the 2024 Paris Olympics, clarifies what happened in a post published on her Instagram profile.
“There has been a lot of conflicting information in the media lately,” he writes, “so I wanted to clarify a few things.” “Blood tests showed that I contracted a virus – Michel specifies – not E. coli“, the bacterium hypothesized by many as a possible cause of the illness, which was followed by Belgium’s decision to withdraw the team from the triathlon relay. The illness led to “3 days of vomiting and diarrhea”, after which the athlete “ended up needing more significant medical care”. Michel spent a day “in the clinic”, the health facility in the Olympic Village. Now, she updates via social media, “I am gradually improving and today I returned home to Belgium”.
Bassetti: “It makes no difference, Senna remains at risk”
E. coli or another pathogen, for infectious disease specialist Matteo Bassetti it makes no difference: “Of course” an athlete who fell ill after diving into the Seine “could have encountered” a virus there “as well”. “Purid water – explains to Adnkronos Salute the director of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital in Genoa – can contain bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa of any type. So it could be an enterovirus that could easily come from there. After all, waste water arrives in the Seine. And if waste water arrives, evidently it contains human enteroviruses, animal enteroviruses. It can contain bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, enterococcus, shigella, salmonella. There could be anything: protozoa, parasites – lists Bassetti – giardia, amoeba. I believe it is plausible that” the Belgian athlete “could have contracted” the infection “inside the Seine. Although obviously in order to demonstrate that there was in some way an infection of this type there would have to be other cases”. But “here the problem is another”, according to the expert.
“The problem – he reiterates – is that you simply cannot think of having athletes swim in a river that is polluted. Regardless of whether or not there have been cases” of infections, “it shouldn’t have been done, the health of the athletes shouldn’t have been put at risk, even if there isn’t even one case. After that, it’s paradoxical that no one cares about what’s in the Seine, but that they care about the fact that there are 40 athletes with Covid colds and other respiratory diseases”.
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