Research, funded by multiple agencies and conducted by the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, found that swimmers using public ocean beaches increase their risk for exposure to staph organisms, and may increase their risk for potential staph infections once they enter the water.
"Our study found that if you swim in subtropical marine waters, you have a significant chance -- approximately 37 percent - of being exposed to staph -- either yours or possibly that from someone else in the water near you," explained Dr. Lisa Plano, associate professor of pediatrics and microbiology and immunology at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, who collaborated in the study, the first large epidemiologic survey of its kind.
"This exposure might lead to staph infection since people colonized with the bacteria carry it into the water with them. Those with open wounds or who are immune compromised are at greatest risk of infection." The good news: results show the potentially virulent variety of antibiotic resistant staph, commonly known as MRSA, makes up less than three per cent of staph from the beach waters sampled during the study.
While people shouldn't avoid beaches, the research team recommends taking precautions to reduce the risk of infection by showering thoroughly before entering the water and after getting out. More research is needed to understand how long staph (including MRSA) can live in coastal waters, and the uptake and infection rate associated with the beach exposures.
The presence of such high concentrations of greenhouse gases is altering the Earth's climate, raising temperatures and impacting on the landscape.
A recent Reuters article shows that rising sea levels are eroding Sydney beaches. By 2050 there is a risk portions of the beach will disappear altogether. The beaches in danger are those which are very low-lying and they are up against higher landforms behind them, they will become narrower.
The coastline will move inward. What is now currently a vegetated dune may become the beach. An expected recession of the coastline of a sandy beach of about one meter for every centimeter rise in sea level.
This article came about after a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) study, commissioned by the Department of Climate Change. The reports showed an overall impact of global change "will pose some very significant risks to the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in Australia". The worries are that in 50 years times the Sydney shoreline in Australia will be in so much disarray the city will become unsustainable.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed that human activity has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide - in 2007 at its highest level for 650,000 years.
The collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf in the Antarctic has been confirmed as a consequence of warming in the Southern Ocean.
