RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Brazilian organizers of the 2016 Olympics are creating a task force to deal with a so-called “super bacteria” discovered in Olympic sailing waters.
In a statement Wednesday, organizers said they were in contact with specialists from the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, the respected research foundation that announced the discovery earlier this week.
Bacteria producing the so-called KPC enzyme that makes them drug resistant and notoriously difficult to treat were found in water samples taken from the Carioca River, which cuts through several high-end Rio de Janeiro neighborhoods and flows onto Flamengo beach.
The beach is located on the Guanabara Bay, where the sailing and wind surfing events at the 2016 Games are to be held.
With the lion’s share of sewage in this city of 12 million going untreated and flowing, raw, into the bay and onto area beaches, Rio’s water quality has become a hot-button issue ahead of the games.