Superbugs in water

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Today I came across a newspaper article that discussed the issue how flesh-eating bacteria resistant to antibiotics have found their way from hospital sewers into rivers and streams throughout Queensland, Australia.

Interesting article which proves that filtering tap water is a must today. Just think what could have happened if any of those bugs found their way through public water supplies (highly unlikely but not at a 100% rate). Not only that, hospital waste water also carries 56 chemicals and heavy metals -some highly toxic-. It is not difficult to imagine that anyone swimming in a waterhole were the waste from hospital sewers was running back down to was at high risk.

Authorities turn a deaf ear on this issue since their political agendas are too busy with affairs that tend to generate a financial profit ignoring the fact that a healthy and vibrant community is something that must be nurtured in order for the whole to function positively. It is well-known that whether whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment. To a large extent, factors such as where we live, the state of our environment, genetics, our income and education level, and our relationships with friends and family all have considerable impacts on health, whereas the more commonly considered factors such as access and use of health care services often have less of an impact.

The context of people’s lives determine their health, and so blaming individuals for having poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the determinants of health.

Enjoying a healthy water supply is beyond the control of the inhabitants of any community, and therefore communities which do not fulfill that requirement will have lowered health outcomes as opposed to those living in communities with a correct water supply.

An excellent source of information about this topic can be found in the following text:

Basic Environmental Health (Yassi et al.). Hardcover. Oxford University Press. 2001.