Oh sea, sea, who polluted you with dinoflagellate?

I went out to the sea beach - breathed in the fresh breeze... - lost my memory. Or respiratory paralysis may suffice or uncontrollable salivation may begin. The danger of catching such exotic diseases may lie in wait for vacationers on some tropical beaches. Their source is toxic microalgae that produce terrible, sometimes fatal toxins for humans. Dinoflagellates, diatoms... These single-celled organisms make up up to a quarter of all organic matter on the planet, but few people know about them, since they are truly invisible. Just a few years ago, only narrow specialists and coastal residents of the Southern Hemisphere knew about these representatives of the coastal zone. Now this scourge has spread much wider and even moved to our Black Sea and the Baltic. About this, as well as about what else our native resorts can surprise or sadden us in, in the material of the MK correspondent, who talked with a great connoisseur of seaweed, Doctor of Biological Sciences, leading researcher at Moscow State University. Lomonosov, a member of the ancient Moscow Society of Natural Scientists Alexander KAMNEV.

The sea is the sea. Even in the best of times, when there was no such tourist boom, it required a respectful and careful attitude: do not swim on wild beaches, do not swim behind buoys, do not overheat in the sun. Now, when up to several million vacationers are expected in Anapa during the summer season (with the norm being 150–200 thousand, the waste of which, in principle, can be handled by the existing infrastructure), draw your own conclusions...

Toxic Aleksandrium settled on the Black Sea

Experts advise treating an overpopulated sea coast in much the same way as we treat a polluted city: to compensate as much as possible for its possible negative impact. In the metropolis, doctors recommend using a shower, walks in parks, going out of town and a balanced diet, and on the coast you should try to walk more, be attentive to what you put in your mouth, even more carefully than before, control the time you spend near the water, be sure to use sunscreen and hats. Using a shower after swimming in sea water is also advisable - in the shower you wash off not only the salt, but also pollutants, which, alas, are now almost everywhere. But maybe there is still an opportunity to choose a cleaner place in advance?

“Recently, a lot of untreated sewage has been entering the Black Sea,” answers Kamnev. - Therefore, the best advice is to choose places away from towns and cities. It is better to relax on organized beaches, avoid wild, untested ones.

- And if you compare the conditions in the Crimea and the North Caucasus?

Still, the climatic conditions in Crimea differ from the North Caucasus: the humidity is different, the water in Crimea is different, more flowing due to the ruggedness of the coastal zone. The Black Sea has several currents: surface and internal. One goes from Turkey, and the other, on the contrary, to Turkey. These currents are actively washing our Russian shores.

- Sometimes the water near the shore is brown. How to determine why?

Many of the banks have a clay base. And therefore, after a storm or rain, part of this clay, as well as coastal runoff, ends up in the sea, and the water becomes brown. Sometimes, due to the flowering of the coastal zone, the water acquires a greenish tint.

But there is a more serious reason that can affect the color of the water. Sometimes it changes color a little when microalgae (diatoms) begin to multiply in it. Some of them release toxins into the air, causing serious illnesses in vacationers - from stomach disorders to amnesia. These mainly live in the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific oceans, in the seas of Southeast Asia, in the Mediterranean Sea, but recently they have moved to our shores.

- Can you tell us more about them?

The ancient Indians who lived on the sea coast knew about the presence of a toxic “substance” in water that kills fish and brings health problems to humans. The group of toxic algal exometabolites includes substances with very different chemical structures and mechanisms of action. For example, amnesic toxins, based on domoic acid and its derivatives, are produced by diatoms of the genus Nitzschia. I breathed in such a breeze and got amnesia - a memory disorder.

Some dinoflagellates, such as Gymnodinium breve, are particularly dangerous when in bloom. Brevetoxin, which is a powerful neurotoxin, is released into the atmosphere. In this case, damage occurs when inhaling air in the coastal zone. Brevetoxin in excessive quantities causes drooling, severe runny nose, spontaneous bowel movements and muscle paralysis. Death as a result of receiving a large dose of a toxic substance occurs as a result of respiratory arrest...

- What a horror! I wonder if travel companies warn tourists about this?

Unfortunately, no one here is seriously addressing this issue. There are cases of poisoning, but do people attribute them to algae? Most often they are blamed on some exotic viruses or insects. Many, on the contrary, strive to the southern coast of the United States, to Florida. In our country this is considered prestigious, despite the fact that the ocean there is sometimes teeming with dinoflagellates. So-called red tides, when people don't swim or fish, are common there.

- Do microalgae make them red?

Yes. But depending on the species, the tides can be both brown and yellowish. They are typical for South America, Japan, New Zealand, Australia. Fishermen suffer greatly from such tides. Back in the early 90s, one-time losses to individual fishing companies amounted to up to $500 million due to invisible plankton. It has been observed, for example, that threads of the diatoms Chaetoceros convolutes and C. coucavicornis clog the gills of fish, leading to mass mortality in fish farms. Some dinoflagellates, such as Prymnesium parvum, P. patelliferum, Gymnodinium mikimotoi, etc., secrete hemolysins. In fish, they damage the gill epithelium, causing hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells - N.V.). But the saddest thing is that recently we have begun to notice some dinoflagellates off our shores in the Black Sea and the Baltic. The genus Alexandrium, which secretes paralytic toxins, the main chemical component of which is saxitoxin, a sodium channel blocker, has moved here, apparently from the Mediterranean Sea. It causes respiratory paralysis (muscle weakness) and in acute cases is fatal.

- What prompted them to move to us?

Most likely, they are carried along by currents, but a favorable environment is created due to changes in the temperature regime of our seas, they become warmer. In addition, the level of organic compounds in them increases every year due to sewage discharged directly into the sea. It is also impossible to exclude the possible appearance of new bacteria in our seas. It’s sad that these microalgae travel through trophic (food) chains into shellfish, and people can become seriously poisoned after tasting seafood in a seaside restaurant. Of course, toxins are not always released by microalgae, but only during certain periods. But it is necessary to study them, to classify them. In most countries of the world, especially in those where mariculture is developed, a legislative framework on aquatic toxins has existed for quite a long time. MPCs have been determined, and the content of these substances is constantly monitored. Alas, there is nothing of the kind in Russia yet. But some types of plankton threaten humans with more than just one-time poisoning. For example, algae of the genus Dinophysis and Prorocentrum, even in small quantities (about tens of thousands of cells per liter), are a tumor promoter, producing okadaic acid. Sometimes it is she who can cause a mild indigestion in a person. A day or two, and it passes, but many do not even suspect a more serious “gift” for a long time. Hepatotoxins from a number of freshwater blue-green algae are also dangerous. In addition to damaging liver tissue, these toxins can cause serious dermatitis.

After all that has been said, the sea somehow does not attract. What should those who have already taken trips to the resort do, but are very afraid of catching some kind of toxin there?

You don't need to be afraid. We must live and enjoy life. I myself am going to the same Anapa any day now, where I will swim and scuba dive. In order to protect yourself as much as possible from possible encounters with toxic microalgae, you need to know that most often their number near the coast increases after outbreaks of extreme heat. If possible, it is better to wait a few days after the temperature peaks and only then go into the water. You should also try not to swallow sea water while swimming, and not wash fruits and vegetables in it, so that toxins do not enter the gastrointestinal tract. The second point is compliance with hygiene rules. Many people habitually wash off sea salt in the shower after bathing. This procedure is also necessary to wash away toxins. In addition to taking a shower, I would recommend gargling with drinking water and washing your hands with soap after swimming in the sea. Well, I would like to remind everyone once again that the coastal zone of our seas is not intended to cope with natural needs; there are toilets for this. The cleanliness of our seas largely depends on improving our culture, maintaining prudence and initiatives of city administrations to improve urban wastewater treatment systems. By the way, so far in our coastal zone the situation with diatoms is much better than off the coast of the USA or Japan. Luckily, we don't have red or yellow tides yet. And this is despite the fact that our seas have less antiseptic properties due to their low salinity. If you do not take measures to cleanse them, this advantage can be lost.

It is undesirable to soar from under the water into the sky

Well, thank you, at least you calmed me down a little. Now let me ask you a question as an experienced diver teaching children to scuba dive. At what age can you start scuba diving?

Interesting question. First, I will note that, having decided to go underwater diving, every person should visit an ENT doctor and get confirmation that diving is not contraindicated for him, that is, there are no problems with the ears, in the presence of which it is impossible to dive to depth.

Let's assume that permission has been received from the doctor, then we will determine the age. There are regulatory frameworks that are written for different levels of training, and they have their own age categories. If we go down to our everyday level, it is optimal to start working in the sea with scuba gear from the age of 10. Many American schools adhere to this. But my personal belief is that you can start earlier, from 6–8 years old. Only the depth should be reasonable. For example, at 1.5 meters a child will definitely not get injured. But at the same time, high-class specialists must work with it. Another important tip: if you, while relaxing at sea, decide to sign up for a dive with your child, then keep in mind that this should be done at least a day or two before the plane flight - the body will have to recover after scuba diving.

While we are just learning the culture of handling the sea, for example, the Japanese, due to lack of territory, are already beginning to build sea cities and are gradually going under water. How will they solve the issue of waste disposal? How will they protect their underwater homes from waste from neighboring countries? It is already clear that the future will require all of humanity to reconsider its attitude towards the cradle of life, to radically change its philosophy, to realize that we are all really “cooking” on Earth in a single cauldron called the World Ocean.

Swimming in the Sea of ​​Azov can be deadly. Law enforcement agencies of the unrecognized Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) discovered cholera pathogens in the water. Vibrios could have entered the reservoir from Ukrainian territory.

Employees of the DPR law enforcement hotline reported that all residents of coastal cities and towns on the Azov Sea are at risk of intestinal infection. This information was confirmed by the administration of Mariupol, which is located on territory controlled by Kyiv.

“Employees of the Mariupol SES took water samples from the coast. Since 2017, the sanitary and epidemiological station has detected cholera vibrios, which threaten to infect both biological resources (fish) and, as a result, the population,” said an employee of the mayor’s office of the Ukrainian city on condition of anonymity.

First of all, residents of Ukrainian territory, as well as residents of the DPR, can become infected with a dangerous disease. But there is also a danger for citizens living in the Rostov region. The distance from Mariupol to Taganrog in a straight line is 106 km, and to Rostov – 165 kilometers.

An official from Mariupol said that Kyiv ignores all requests regarding the appearance of dangerous vibrios in the water. They simply prefer not to notice the problem. “Any publications in the media about the threat of an epidemic in Mariupol were explained and declared to be pro-Russian propaganda,” the source said.

According to him, it is very difficult to identify the causes of pollution, since the central government does not supply the Donetsk region with the necessary equipment and preparations for sanitary inspection of the coastal waters. Everything that the local SES has at its disposal is outdated a long time ago. Kyiv is saving, but as a result, the lives and health of thousands of people are at risk.

An outbreak of cholera can also occur among civilians, but the military stationed in the vicinity of Mariupol are in greatest danger. “There are factors for this - compact accommodation, unsanitary conditions, insufficient supply of clean drinking water. The epidemic can become truly widespread. In addition, there are not enough specialized specialists in the city and among the military, which will significantly aggravate the situation in the event of a cholera outbreak,” said an administration official. Mariupol.

Last year, cholera vibrios were discovered along the entire Ukrainian coast of the Azov Sea. Ukrainian doctors warned that you can get sick if you drink contaminated water while swimming. Local residents and tourists were strongly discouraged from swimming, but few followed these prohibitions.

The media of the Rostov region recalled that the threat of a cholera epidemic over the region due to the proximity of the Azov Sea arises regularly. In this case, most often the danger comes from the Ukrainian side. In 2012, a cemetery near Mariupol was washed away, as a result of which cholera bacilli got into the water, and swimming was prohibited all the way to Taganrog.

Cholera is an extremely dangerous acute infectious disease. It is characterized by damage to the small intestine, impaired water-salt metabolism, and varying degrees of dehydration due to fluid loss. The causative agent is Vibrio cholerae, which is excreted in feces or vomit. The disease can be fatal.

The cleanest sea in Russia is the Baltic (beaches of the Kaliningrad region), and the dirtiest are the Caspian and Azov, where it is generally dangerous to swim. Sanitary doctors of Rospotrebnadzor came to this conclusion after summing up the monitoring results for 2016.

Rospotrebnadzor summed up the results of monitoring the quality of coastal water in the seas used for recreation. In Russia, the coastal waters of the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic seas, as well as parts of the Sea of ​​Japan washing the Primorsky Territory, are used for recreational purposes.

Sanitary doctors regularly take water samples to assess its sanitary-chemical and microbiological indicators (including the number of pathogens of intestinal infections).

A high proportion of “non-standard” samples indicates that sewage (untreated sewage) from neighboring cities, coastal industrial enterprises and recreation centers is being discharged into the seas. Sanitary doctors “reject” the samples taken based on parameters such as high content of phenols, petroleum products, synthetic surfactants (surfactants), iron, manganese, and chlorides. The samples contain E. coli, enterococci, worm eggs, and in isolated cases even salmonella and the hepatitis A virus.

Another cause of pollution, Rospotrebnadzor notes, is accidents at onshore facilities and sea vessels (including fuel spills during bunkering), as well as uncontrolled pumping of oil-containing water from ships. Spontaneous landfills are set up in coastal areas (including snow dumps after street cleaning).

As noted in the report of Rospotrebnadzor, the main threat to the seas is the rapid growth of cities: at the same time, water supply networks are built much faster than sewer networks (about 2-2.5 times), the capacity of sewage treatment plants is also significantly less than the volume of water consumption of cities.

At the same time, deep-water wastewater discharges have not been modernized for decades: suffice it to say that in the Gulf of Finland, technologies for deep removal of nutrients, as well as disinfection of wastewater with ultraviolet irradiation, began to be introduced only in 2007.

A separate discussion concerns the improvement of beaches. Beaches must meet the strict requirements of GOST “Hygienic requirements for recreational areas of water bodies”: have changing rooms, shade canopies, trash cans, sports and children's playgrounds, and parking for vehicles. In fact, Rospotrebnadzor states that not all have separate ramps for small vessels and jet skis; the boundaries of the swimming area are not fenced with buoys, and rescue towers are not installed or equipped.

The Caspian is being poisoned by oil workers and corrupt officials

The Caspian Sea is of greatest concern to sanitary doctors. For many years, among all Russian waters, the Caspian waters in the Makhachkala region remain the most polluted, where back in 2007 almost 100% of samples taken by sanitary doctors did not meet microbiological standards. Last year - only 31% (in Derbent - 8%, in Kaspiysk - 5%).

We have already talked about the deplorable state of the Caspian seaside: the entire coastline is uncontrollably built up with cottages, recreation centers, and sanatoriums. At the same time, the level of the Caspian Sea has been rising over the past three decades, as a result of which wastewater treatment plants in Derbent and Izberbash have already been disabled.

And nothing has changed! Rospotrebnadzor in its report for 2016 notes that the discharge of untreated wastewater (sewage and surface stormwater) into the Caspian Sea does not stop, the boundaries of sanitary protection zones have not been defined, and there is no approved regime and procedure for economic activity in these zones. Well, the heads of municipalities continue to uncontrollably distribute land for construction in the water protection zone.

Things are also bad with the Sea of ​​Azov. For example, back in 2000 in the Temryuk region, 100% of samples taken by sanitary doctors were recognized as “non-standard”. Now the situation seems to have improved, but not much: last year Rospotrebnadzor “rejected” 16% of the samples taken in the Sea of ​​Azov (and again Temryuk turned out to be the “champion”, while in Yeysk or Slavyansk-on-Kuban everything is fine) . It is worth recalling that in August 2016, the operation of the central beach in the village of Golubitskaya was suspended due to the terrible water quality of the Azov Sea.

Greater Sochi is “growing” with sewerage

In the Primorsky Territory, where people swim in the Sea of ​​Japan, Rospotrebnadzor also noted a significant improvement in water quality in all respects. “Non-standard” samples, of course, exist, but there are fewer and fewer of them every year (the worst situation, of course, is near large cities - Vladivostok and Artyom).

At the same time, as noted in Rospotrebnadzor, only last year the collectors of two districts of Vladivostok - Leninsky and Pervomaisky - were connected to sewage treatment plants.

In the Leningrad region, it is not recommended to swim in many rivers, which are rejected by Rospotrebnadzor from year to year (Syas, Volkhov, Kobrinka and others), as well as in the waters of the Gulf of Finland (the village of Bolshaya Izhora and Fort Krasnaya Gorka) and the Vyborg Bay (Vyborg itself and Smolyanoy Cape).

As for the Black Sea, which is most popular among Russians, as noted in the Krasnodar department of Rospotrebnadzor, last year water quality indicators improved significantly - there were noticeably fewer “non-standard” samples (and there were none in the Anapa area). Less than 0.3% of samples taken do not meet hygienic standards (while in 2015 there were almost 5%).

The Krasnodar department of Rospotrebnadzor explains this by the fact that the situation was taken under personal control by the deputy plenipotentiary representative in the Southern Federal District Vladimir Gurba: discharges of wastewater after treatment from treatment facilities in the Greater Sochi area have been taken under strict control.

As a result, the share of “non-standard” seawater samples taken in Greater Sochi in 2016 was only 0.1% compared to 11% two years earlier.

On the Crimean seaside the situation is even better, state sanitary doctors: only 2% of the samples taken were “rejected”, including on several beaches of Yalta, Kerch, Sevastopol, Alushta, as well as the village of Nikolaevka. But neither tourists nor local residents believe such data.

“It’s dangerous to swim in Gelendzhik Bay”

Dmitry Shevchenko, deputy coordinator of the public organization “Ecological Watch in the North Caucasus,” has very strong doubts about the data provided by Rospotrebnadzor. In a conversation with Free Press, he noted that it is incorrect to estimate the “gross” indicators of the number of sea water samples taken by sanitary doctors - it is necessary to take into account how far from the coast they were taken, at what depth, at what time of day and year.

— Today, the biggest problem for the coastal waters of the Black Sea is, undoubtedly, municipal pollution. Industrial pollution from various industrial enterprises is more local in nature; it is most pronounced, in particular, in the area of ​​the ports of Novorossiysk and Taman.

While municipal pollution is more widespread and is associated with the discharge of untreated waste into the sea. In the Greater Sochi area, even after the Olympics, during which centralized treatment facilities were modernized, this problem remained relevant.

Many Sochi areas with private buildings even today do not have a centralized sewerage system. People solve this issue as best they can: they buy septic tanks, stack them and build local treatment facilities. But many still discharge raw sewage directly into the sea or into storm drains, which in turn also go to the sea.

“SP”: — Rospotrebnadzor notes in its report that last year the modernization of sewer networks in Greater Sochi continued, which was taken under control at the embassy.

— Modernization is underway, but at an insufficient pace. Most of the deep-sea outlets in the water area were built back in the sixties and seventies of the last century, and are now outdated both physically and morally. And even the engineering condition of the facilities has raised many questions in recent years. Suffice it to remember that in December last year, a huge plastic pipe surfaced off the coast like a whale - part of the deep-water outlet of the Adler sewage treatment plant, built before the Olympics.

“SP”: — So you wouldn’t recommend swimming in the Black Sea?

- I won’t be so categorical. There are areas where the water actually meets all standards. But there are also extremely polluted areas: for example, in Gelendzhik or Anapa bays, in my opinion, going into the water is dangerous to health. The water area near Anapa is shallow, the water is strongly heated by the sun, which allows microorganisms from wastewater entering the sea to multiply more quickly.

Now all the water there is “blooming” due to algae - this is an indicator of the degree of pollution with organic waste. Due to the abundant proliferation of algae that consume oxygen, the water is deprived of its other inhabitants - fish, mollusks, and crustaceans go to other places. That is, ultimately, this leads to an environmental disaster.

The Black Sea is poisoned by a poisonous bacterium. The ecological situation is so catastrophic that hundreds of local residents and tourists turn to doctors every day with complaints of intestinal infection.

On the one hand, everything can be explained by natural causes - dangerous algae began to multiply due to the fact that the water temperature reached an anomalous 29 degrees, and, given the location of the sea, the circulation of water in it is extremely slow, in fact it is a closed reservoir. But experts also name other factors: for example, the excessive activity of officials who, without the necessary base, began to squeeze the maximum out of domestic resorts.

She has few pleasant impressions from her summer holidays: they all fit into a few photographs. 14-year-old Sonya was vacationing on the Black Sea, but this year it was not too kind to her. After just a couple of swims, she came down with an acute infection. According to the girl, the water was warm and dirty, jellyfish and even bottles were floating in it.

Similar situations happen everywhere. Hospitals in resort towns are packed to capacity: there is only one diagnosis - acute intestinal infection. Many of those who decided to spend their long-awaited vacation on the beaches of Adler, Anapa or Gelendzhik literally find themselves in hospital beds on the second day.

“The situation is simply catastrophic: after swimming in the sea, instead of relaxing, we got an intestinal infection and a trip to an infectious diseases hospital, which turned out to be overcrowded with vacationers. Everyone has the same story: we swam in the Adler Black Sea, where sewage is dumped and is infested with E. coli,”- the petition says.

The situation in resort towns really raises concerns, even health officials do not hide: hospital beds are filled exclusively with vacationers.

On the Sochi beach, as always, there is nowhere to lay a towel. The velvet season is in full swing, and the flow of tourists does not stop. Even these frightening numbers don’t stop holidaymakers: the water temperature is 27 degrees, and two weeks ago it almost reached 30. For the Black Sea, this is an exorbitant figure. However, doctors report: you can swim in such water. And vacationers are happy to follow these recommendations. But after such bathing, tourists often have to change beach chairs for beds in infectious diseases departments.

Another problem typical of coastal towns is the irresponsibility of local residents and businessmen. Numerous hotels, restaurants, shops and residences are simply not connected to the central sewer. The authorities, of course, are struggling with this, but not everyone follows their instructions. In many resort areas, tourists literally swim in their own excrement.

“Very often I see with my own eyes those sewers that either flow into the sea with rivers or with storm drains. That is, this is due to the fact that there are a lot of mini-hotels, a lot of houses that are rented out, and many of their sewers are simply - they simply throw it away,”- says ecologist Vitaly Bezrukov.

And this is a problem that is faced not only in Russia. For example, for the Bulgarians the Black Sea has long turned into a landfill. The bodies of baby dolphins are regularly found on the beaches of the Gold Coast, and no one even tries to disguise the pipes through which waste flows into the sea. In addition, temperatures here are breaking records.

The sea water temperature on the Varna coast is 24 degrees, and this does not have a very good effect on the marine ecosystem. Bacteria multiply very easily in water. In addition, large companies very often break the law by dumping waste into seas around the world, in particular into the Black Sea, near industrial cities.

Now reports of an epidemic of intestinal infection in the Black Sea resorts are coming from almost all countries that have access to it. And if the situation cannot be corrected in the near future, there is a risk of facing an environmental disaster on a regional scale.

https://www.site/2016-08-30/krasnodarskiy_kray_na_grani_ekologicheskoy_katastrofy_iz_za_kishechnoy_infekcii

“I’m completely shocked: why is everyone silent?”

Black Sea resorts in Russia are overwhelmed by intestinal infections

There is an outbreak of intestinal infection in the Krasnodar region. Tourists complain that the sea is polluted by sewage and algae, and report overcrowded hospitals. Local authorities do not acknowledge the problem: official comments say that there are no mass cases of disease. Meanwhile, the collection of signatures has begun on the Internet for a petition in which Russians ask President Vladimir Putin to save the Russian resort from an environmental disaster.

“It turns out you can’t go to the sea”

“The situation is simply catastrophic! Having been in Adler with a small child for only two days and having swam in the sea, instead of resting, we got an intestinal infection and a trip to the infectious diseases hospital on Kirova 50, which turned out to be overcrowded with vacationers, sick children are even lying in the corridors, there are not enough places! Everyone has the same story: they swam in Adler’s Black Sea, where sewage is dumped and where E. coli is infested! People come from all over the country and spend their holidays in the infectious diseases department. Little children and their parents lie under IVs and do not get off the potties! And this is in post-Olympic Sochi, where they have done everything for the guests of the Olympics, but cannot create conditions for a safe holiday for their children!” says the petition, which was published on the website Change.org by Norilsk resident Larisa Yangol. With her petition, she is trying to attract the attention of President Vladimir Putin and the chief sanitary doctor of the Russian Federation, whom Yangol asks to “stop the intestinal infection in the Black Sea.” So far, only 778 people have supported the petition, but the number of signatories is growing.

Social networks and blogs are full of stories from tourists about the epidemic of intestinal infection in major Black Sea resorts: Anapa, Sochi, Gelendzhik and others.

In the public domain you can find hundreds of similar messages about how tourists, after swimming in the sea, suffered from diarrhea and vomiting, waited for hours for an ambulance and spent most of their vacation in the hospital. Mostly parents of preschool children complained about their ruined vacation.

The situation with the incidence of intestinal infection is observed on the coast for the third year in a row

Perhaps the most replicated in social networks is the post of Angela Alekseenko from Petrozavodsk. She is indignant that for the sake of profit, the authorities, doctors and the media are hushing up information about the epidemic on the Black Sea coast. She was vacationing in Sochi with her two-year-old son. After going to the sea, his temperature rose, diarrhea and vomiting began. The baby, together with his mother, was taken by ambulance to the emergency room of the infectious diseases hospital, where they had to wait three hours to see a doctor in the company of other vacationers with similar problems.

“A bunch of parents, all the kids are in their arms, they are constantly vomiting, they are exhausted and cannot stand on their feet. Poor doctors who don’t have time to do anything try to be kind and understanding. But tired as hell. And today is the fourth day in the hospital, periodically I roar, in complete shock, why is everyone silent, ”writes Angela Alekseenko.

According to Alekseenko, 60 children are admitted to the hospital every day with one diagnosis - an intestinal infection.

“It turns out that you can’t go out to the sea, it’s dirty, children get poisoned, their small, fragile body fails! And everyone is silent! Hospitals are overcrowded, people are lying in the corridors, I myself see this nightmare. Dirty, stuffy, there is no refrigerator or microwave in the whole hospital, ”the woman is indignant. The ambulance doctors told her that this situation had been happening since the beginning of summer. “Why are you silent? “Then you won’t come to us,” they answer. This is fine? All summer it’s been such nonsense, poor kids are poisoned, someone is vomiting blood, and everyone is sneezing because it’s money!” Alekseenko is indignant. Her post was republished by the media and bloggers, but later for unknown reasons it was deleted from Facebook. the site tried to contact Angela Alekseenko through a social network, but at the time of preparing the material, she did not respond to a personal message.

“They called back from the ambulance and said that the doctors would not come.”

Tourists faced similar problems throughout the summer in other resort towns in the Krasnodar Territory. As Sverdlovsk resident Denis Stepanchenko, who was vacationing with his family in the village of Vityazevo near Anapa, told the website, the family spent 10 of the 14 days of their vacation in their room due to an intestinal infection that struck the children. Denis Stepanchenko with his wife and two sons (one is 7 years old, the other is 11 months old) arrived in Vityazevo on July 29.

On the second day of rest, after swimming in the sea, the youngest son began vomiting, diarrhea and the temperature rose to 38.5 degrees. Later, the same symptoms began in the eldest son. “At first we treated ourselves, but on the third day we asked the hotel to call an ambulance.” Later, the ambulance called us back and said that the doctors would not come to us, since the child’s temperature was relatively low, and they had a lot of calls even without us,” says the Ural resident. According to him, there is always a queue of about twenty people at pharmacies.

“Everyone has the same symptoms, everyone buys the same medications. The pharmacy understands the situation and doubles the prices,” says the Ural resident.

According to Denis, during his vacation, the ambulance came to the hotel where he was vacationing with his family two or three times every day. “They took small children with their mothers to the hospital. Moreover, everyone began to get sick after visiting the sea,” he says. Denis notes that after his experience, he is unlikely to risk going to the Russian Black Sea coast again. According to him, local residents say that the situation with the widespread incidence of intestinal infection has been observed on the coast for the third year in a row and always at the end of the holiday season. This is also confirmed by user posts on social networks.

The flight and two-week holiday in a four-star all-inclusive hotel cost Denis Stepanichenko’s family 220 thousand rubles. The family spent another 10 thousand rubles on buying medicines at local pharmacies.

A similar story happened in Gelendzhik with a resident of Yekaterinburg, Ekaterina Shipitsyna, who was vacationing at the resort with three small children, her husband and mother-in-law. “We came for four weeks, rented an apartment, cooked food ourselves, carefully washed all the fruits and vegetables, followed all the rules of hygiene, but nevertheless we got sick,” the mother of many children told the site. According to her, the three-year-old twins fell ill first, and then the one-year-old son. Later, the adults also got sick in turn. The symptoms are the same for everyone: vomiting, weakness, diarrhea, high fever. By the end of the vacation, the children managed to get sick twice.

According to Ekaterina, local residents consider the main cause of illness to be dirty sea water, in which at the end of summer, due to the heat, algae bloom and bacteria multiply. In addition, old-timers point out the lack of centralized sewerage.

Sochi City Hall: the cause of illness is the carelessness of vacationers

More than 3.3 million tourists vacationed in Sochi from January to July 2016, according to an official statement on the municipality’s website. The beaches are 100% occupied. At the same time, the administration’s health department refused to tell the site over the phone how many people were hospitalized with intestinal infections this season. the site sent an official request to the press service of the city administration, but there is no response yet.

At the same time, the city health department emphasizes that over the past six months no cases of mass infectious diseases have been registered in Sochi. According to doctors, in most cases the cause of illness is the carelessness of vacationers themselves, who do not comply with basic sanitary and epidemiological standards: for example, they buy food from street stalls and wash fruit directly in the sea. Officials have even developed a guide for tourists on how to maintain good health during vacation, however, apparently, it does not always save vacationers.

Official reports from the Sochi administration say that the water in the sea meets all necessary standards. According to the press service of the mayor's office, citing specialists from Rospotrebnadzor, this summer the water even became cleaner by about 10% compared to 2015.

The city administration notes that water samples are taken in the resort’s water area twice a week. “Since the beginning of the summer period, about one and a half thousand water samples have been taken. All of them complied with the established standards, and the maximum permissible concentration was not exceeded,” the press service of the municipality notes.

Also, messages regularly appear on the website of the Sochi City Hall regarding the improvement of local sewerage. One of them says that in 2015 in Sochi “almost 12 thousand unsewered objects were identified, at the beginning of the summer of 2016 there were 2,571 of them left.” Work in this direction continues, according to the city administration.

Ecologist: Sewage and fecal waters flow into the sea

Environmentalists point to a problem with sewerage in the Krasnodar region. “I have been on business trips to Sochi and its suburbs many times and have seen with my own eyes the sewage flowing into the sea. This situation is typical for Russia and for the villages of Sochi. Sewage and fecal waters flow into the sea. The runoff ends up in local rivers, which flow into the sea. People often swim on the beaches where the runoff comes out,” says Vitaly Bezrukov, head of the My Planet charitable environmental foundation.

According to him, the sanitary situation at the resort is also deteriorating due to the construction of mini-hotels on the site where previously there were only small private houses. “For example, there used to be a one-story house in which, say, four people lived; there was relatively little waste. Then a five-story mini-hotel was built on this site. Accordingly, the volume of sewage drains increases significantly, and they continue to be discharged into the sea,” explains the ecologist. In addition, according to him, household chemicals (phosphorus-containing washing powders, detergents, etc.) enter the sea with these wastewater, which gives rise to the bloom of blue-green algae, which in turn contributes to the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria.