Faecal Pollution of Our Beaches — How Serious is the Situation?

Abstract

SMITH¹ determined the incidence of antibiotic resistant coliform bacteria in various rivers, paying particular attention to Escherichia coli with transmissible resistance to chloramphenicol; this resistance is potentially dangerous because it may be transferable to Salmonella typhi and so render the treatment of typhoid fever more difficult. An important conclusion that emerged from his work was that most of the antibiotic resistant coliforms and R⁺ E. coli in rivers examined came from urban sewage. These types were present even in sewage from areas with no abattoirs; human beings were thus shown to be the main source of antibiotic resistant types in the rivers. Smith² subsequently determined the incidence of antibiotic resistant coliforms and R⁺ E. coli in coastal bathing waters and reported that the ratio of the concentrations of the different kinds of antibiotic resistant coliform organisms to each other and to the antibiotic sensitive organisms in the seawater resembled that in human sewage previously examined¹. He concluded² that R⁺ E. coli in seawater provided “stronger evidence of contamination with human sewage”, and that “the present undesirable situation could be corrected immediately if proper disposal of sewage from seaside towns were practised”.