Intestinal germs in the Adriatic Sea - bathing is allowed again

Disgust alarm on the Adriatic! The sea around Rimini in Emilia-Romagna had to be temporarily closed: too many intestinal germs, so-called coli bacteria, in the water. Now bathing is allowed again...

The shocker for tourism on the Riviera Romagnola: intestinal germs in the sea water! So many that bathing could be harmful to health. The municipalities imposed a bathing ban on the beaches despite the extreme heat.

The environmental authority Arpae had found elevated bacteria levels at 28 of 98 bathing sites, including the intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli.

beach rimini — **The forced lull on the beach in Rimini is over**

The areas affected were the province of Rimini, the municipality of Goro (province of Ferrara), Rio Pircio (municipality of Bellaria-Igea Marina) and Fogliano Marina (municipality of Riccione).

Experts are puzzling over the cause. Normally, an increased load occurs after heavy rainfall. In fact, there has been drought in Emilia-Romagna for months, but in fact there had been heavy storms in northern Italy shortly before.

After 24 hours, the swimming ban was lifted again.

These diseases can be caused by coli bacteria:

Coli bacteria are a naturally occurring type of bacteria in the intestinal tract, but they can also cause diseases. For example, Escherichia coli is considered the most common pathogen of bacterial infections.

There are different strains of this type of bacteria. Infections usually start with watery diarrhoea, which becomes increasingly watery and also bloody as it progresses. Other symptoms are abdominal pain and vomiting, rarely fever. People with a weaker immune system, such as infants or older people, are particularly affected.