The germ is known as MRSA, or if you want to get technical, it is known as a methicillin-resistant form of Staphylococcus aureus and it is a bug that is hard to treat and was once rarely ever seen outside of a hospital setting. Unfortunately, MRSA is now increasingly spreading through ordinary community settings including gyms, locker rooms and schools.

This germ is capable of causing some truly nasty skin infections including other life threatening problems like pneumonia, and worse. It is capable of spreading primarily through human touch. Little right now is actually known about the possible environmental sources that could be harboring this germ without us realizing it.

Finding this germ at the beach is suggesting that people may actually be picking it up here, according to a microbiologist by the name of Marilyn Roberts, who works at the University of Washington, located in Seattle. She says that the risk is not currently known for individuals that are going to the beach, but the fact that these organisms are being found there is suggesting that the risk level is potentially much higher than what was originally assumed.

She presented results at a conference for the American Society of Microbiology on Saturday in California this last Saturday. Her team reported last year that they found a different form of bacteria, which is Enterococci, at a total of five different beaches on the West Coast. Now earlier this year, researchers at the University of Miami reported that they had found staph bacteria at four out of 10 different ocean water samples that they collected at a beach in South Florida with the help of hundreds of bathers.

Many communities are commonly restricting bathing at their beaches because there is a fear of contamination by fecal bacteria.

In a recent study, researchers tested ten different beaches along the west coast in Washington and in the Puget Sound between February 2008 and September 2008. The Staph bacteria were located in nine of them, including five beaches that had MRSA. The strains resemble the highly resistant types of strains that are typically found in hospital settings rather than the ones that are normally found in community settings.

According to scientists, people should neither avoid beaches nor be afraid to enjoy what they have to offer, but it is likely prudent to take a shower when you get out of the water to lower the risk of having any bacteria on your skin when you are done.

Photo Credits: doortoriver

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