E. Coli sea plumes

[handy]

We have a lot of local beach closures locally due to high E. Coli counts (human or animal, they don’t know). I was wondering if the toilet plume theory holds true for seas too?

In other words, is it possible the sea spray is depositing microscopic particles of E. Coli on the city?

(This is not a comment about Cecils column, but you can read what he said about toilet plumes:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990416.html)

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Hmm. That’s an interesting question. I was in Michigan over the summer and they were broadcasting the e.coli counts for Lake Huron swimming beaches.

Well, there’s this, under “airborne e.coli”.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/980803/cover3.html

Certainly, O157 E. coli is not an easy bug to pick up. It’s not an airborne pathogen like a flu virus, and it can have an ill effect only if it’s ingested.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/escherichiacoli_g.htm#How%20is%20E.%20coli%20O157:H7%20spread

How is E. coli O157:H7 spread?

The organism can be found on a small number of cattle farms and can live in the intestines of healthy cattle. Meat can become contaminated during slaughter, and organisms can be thoroughly mixed into beef when it is ground. Bacteria present on the cow’s udders or on equipment may get into raw milk.

Eating meat, especially ground beef, that has not been cooked sufficiently to kill E. coli O157:H7 can cause infection. Contaminated meat looks and smells normal. Although the number of organisms required to cause disease is not known, it is suspected to be very small.

Among other known sources of infection are consumption of sprouts, lettuce, salami, unpasteurized milk and juice, and swimming in or drinking sewage-contaminated water.

Bacteria in diarrheal stools of infected persons can be passed from one person to another if hygiene or handwashing habits are inadequate.

I’m guessing that e.coli bacteria needs to be kept wet, so I would think that if e.coli bacteria were somehow wafted over the city, that as soon as they landed on the pavement, they would die. They’d have to land right on your hand just before you put your fingers in your mouth or something, or on your sandwich.

But maybe somebody else will come along in a minute who knows more about bacteria survival.

And there’s this (text version)
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:JarLdr6tYuI:www.cleanoceanaction.org/wastewater/publications/citguide.pdf+toilet+plume+e.coli&hl=en

Once freshwater effluent has been discharged into the saltwater environment, dilution begins. The
effluent rises from the diffuser where it mixes with ocean water (see Figure 4.3). The rising brew of
freshwater and saltwater mixing is a mixing zone and wastefield. At some distance from the
outfall, the effluent plume is undetectable because of complete mixing and dilution. The distance
that a plume travels depends on many conditions in the ocean, including tides, currents, winds, and
salinity.

It’s possible that the bacteria are diluted so quickly, once they get out there in the ocean, that there isn’t a big enough concentration of them for the wind to pick them up and blow them into town.

[Smeghead]

What DDG said. E. coli is spread through the fecal-oral route, not through the air.

[handy]

That article by Cecil mentions how it gets on your toothbursh etc. Thanks for pointing out those articles. Just the thought that E. coli could be present in the air & land on everything is more than enough for me to handle. Even if its not infectuous.