It is speculated that with increased tourism comes increased microbial activity, and it has been suggested that Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA are shed by swimmers and can be found in significant numbers in ocean water and sand (Goodwin et. al, 2012). Clearwater Beach has recently been named ‘Best Beach in America’ by Trip Advisor for the second year in a row (Perry, 2019), and according to Destination Analysts’ “Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater 2017/18 Visitor Profile,” of the 19 local [beaches] in question, Clearwater Beach received 50.0% of the tourists that visited the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area in 2017. With that, it can be hypothesized that higher amounts of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain (MRSA) will be present in the water of tourist locations on Davis Island and Clearwater Beach, FL due to increased human activity.
For my undergraduate research, Staphylococcus epidermidis and aureus were isolated from seawater samples, using water filtration, at two locations, tourist and non-tourist, on Clearwater Beach and Davis Island, FL. Clearwater Beach is a well-known tourist destination while Davis Island is a popular area for locals. Both locations were sampled at an area with heavy human activity and light human activity. Although part of the natural human flora, Staphylococcus aureus can be pathogenic under the appropriate conditions. The resulting Staphylococcus aureus colonies were tested for oxacillin antibiotic resistance which is a method of identifying Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that are resistant to the -cillin antibiotic family. This includes the well-known MRSA. The data was analyzed via a two-way ANOVA.
There was a statistical significance between tourist versus non-tourist locations (p= 0.02345) which indicated that location type (tourist, non-tourist) was directly correlated with the amount of Staphylococcus present in the seawater. The more human activity a location received, the greater the amount of Staphylococcus present in the seawater. This finding was congruent with Goodwin (2012). There was no statistical significance between Davis Island and Clearwater Beach (p= 0.14451) for total number of Staphylococcus colonies formed. There was not a statistical significance between Davis Island and Clearwater Beach with the amount of MRSA present in the water samples (p= 0.50568) but there was a statistical significance between location type and the amount of MRSA present in the water samples (p= 0.04319). For future studies, increasing the sample size may result in a stronger correlation between location type and the amount of MRSA present in the water samples. With speculated tourism increases at Clearwater Beach, it is likely that the Staphylococcus population will increase, and this experiment provides evidence that the MRSA concentrations will increase coextensively.
Clearwater Beach and Davis Island are reputable for their sugary sands and emerald waters, but with the expected increases in tourism and associated MRSA levels, these paradises could soon become a threat to their visitors.
Goodwin, Kelly D., et al. “A Multi-Beach Study of Staphylococcus Aureus, MRSA, and Enterococci in Seawater and Beach Sand.” Water Research, vol. 46, no. 13, 2012, pp. 4195–4207., doi:10.1016/j.watres.2012.04.001.
Perry, Zack. “Clearwater Beach Named 'Best Beach in America' in 2019.” WFTS, 26 Feb. 2019, www.abcactionnews.com/lifestyle/taste-and-see/clearwater-beach-named-best-beach-in-america-for-second-year-in-a-row.
“Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater 2017/18 VISITOR PROFILE.” Destination Analysts, Nov. 2017.
Jen,
ReplyDeleteThis was very insightful and will have me constantly thinking that I'm in a pool of bacteria when I'm at the beach. As an avid traveler, there is rarely a trip where there isn't access to bodies of water, so your post instantly grabbed my attention. I found a study about how ocean swimming alters skin microbiome, leading to an increasing vulnerability to infection (ASM Communications, 2019). ASM, American Society for Microbiology, concluded that ocean water exposure can alter the diversity and composition of the human skin microbiome (2019). Along with the study and several other recent research, it demonstrated that changes in the skin microbiome also results in susceptibility to infections and diseases.
With the skin as our first line of defense against infections and diseases, it plays an important role in adapting whole-body physiology to changing environments, the capacity to produce a variety of hormones, neurotransmitters and cytokines (Prescott, et al., 2017). Any alterations could possibly make our livelihood worse as it makes us more susceptible to bacteria that we once weren't before. This leads to the question, are there any preventatives to reduce the susceptibility of altering the microbiome? If we reduce the speculated tourism at beaches and other bodies of water, will it lower the amount of bacteria? These questions should be considered with further research regarding this topic. Thank you for the read!
References
ASM Communications. (2019, June). Ocean Swimming Alters Skin Microbiome, Increasing Vulnerability to Infection. Retrieved from https://www.asm.org/Press-Releases/2019/June/Ocean-Swimming-Alters-Skin-Microbiome,-Increasing.
Prescott, S. L., Larcombe, D.-L., Logan, A. C., West, C., Burks, W., Caraballo, L., … Campbell, D. E. (2017). The skin microbiome: impact of modern environments on skin ecology, barrier integrity, and systemic immune programming. World Allergy Organization Journal, 10, 29. doi: 10.1186/s40413-017-0160-5