HEALTH TIPS - POLLUTION AND SEA-SWIMMING

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

An investigation by the Public Health Laboratory service of the U.K., marked out forty British beaches which were heavily contaminated with sewage and tried to find out the extent of infection in the swimmers there. The conclusion reached was that transmission of diseases such as poliomyelitis, typhoid or paratyphoid is very rare even when the beaches are heavily contaminated with sewage. The fact is that sewage in sea-water has never been scientifically proved to be a serious health hazard. The salt in the sea-water probably has a lot to do with this as salt is an excellent disinfectant. Moreover, the enormous volume of water in the sea together with the action of the tides contributes towards keeping sea-water safe for swimming. Another reason why no infection occurred could be due to the fact that very little water is swallowed by swimmers.