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WHILE the water at Pasir Ris beach is deemed unsafe for swimming by the National Environment Agency (NEA), taking a dip may not be dangerous.
Indeed, the most likely place you’ll end up after a swim there is the toilet rather than the hospital.
Dr Timothy Barkham, senior consultant clinical microbiologist at the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said swimmers unlucky enough to take a few gulps of the contaminated water may develop gastroenteritis (stomach flu), which results in diarrhoea.
Short-lived
“This is usually self-limiting and short-lived,” he added.
“The higher the bacterial count, the higher the chance that swimmers will be affected.”
The bacteria in question is enterococcus.
In an NEA survey of water samples collected from the beach, seven per cent of the collect contained more than 200 counts of enterococcus bacteria per 100ml of water, exceeding World Health Organisation benchmarks.
To be safe for swimming, wakeboarding and other full-body contact water activities, the beach needs to have not more than 5 per cent of such samples.
Someone who swims in contaminated water is unlikely to be able to distinguish between water that passes the test from water that does not, said Dr Barkham.
That is why the authorities do laboratory tests.
Both adults and children may be affected, although the impact of diarrhoea is more severe in very young children.
The range of illnesses is much the same as that from food and drinks contaminated by faecal material because of poor food preparation, poor kitchen practices and under cooking.
The enterococcus bacteria itself is unlikely to cause illness.
Other faecal organisms found in the water may cause a variety of illnesses. Diarrhoea is the most likely and Hepatitis A is possible, said Dr Barkham.
The harmful organisms are ingested – they are not inhaled and do not penetrate intact skin.
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