9 Surprising Diseases You Can Catch In The Nation's Oceans (PHOTOS)

Whether we like it or not, our nation's beaches are not as clean as we would prefer them to be. Ocean water contaminated with sewage, storm run-off and oil carries bacteria, parasites, and viruses, which can cause a variety of diseases. From Staph infections to earaches, hepatitis to skin rashes and respiratory issues, America's waters are an environmental hot bed for infection. For the last five years, there have been 18,000 beach closings across the United States. 2009 brought 18,682 days of closures and notices as a result of water contamination and pollution at beaches throughout the United States.

As summer ends, we here at HuffPost Green decided to explore the range of possible illnesses that can be contracted at our nation's beaches due to environmental contamination. While oiled beaches are making the most headlins this summer, there are numerous other contamination that can be found at the beach. Recreational water illnesses can be caught by swallowing contaminated water, inhaling infected mist, and swimming in polluted waters. Check out our slideshow of nine surprising infections that are found in the nation's oceans. As always, we want to hear from you. Tell us what you think in the comments.

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Hepatitis

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Hepatitis is a concern for many swimmers, surfers and beachgoers in the United States due to the improper disposal of red waste, a hazardous waste, such as syringes. The disease can be spread in the nation’s waters through needle and blood pollution. Officials at Lake Michigan beaches encourage visitors to take caution at the beach this month. It is believed that the red waste pollution traveled from Milwaukee sewer overflows. The syringes could carry bacteria and viruses containing hepatitis and AIDS. At San Diego’s Imperial Beach, pollution is high in the popular surfing location. The beach receives sewage run-off from Southern California's Tijuana River. Officials worry that bodies have been discarded into the area along the river, thus contaminating the water. Many local surfers received hepatitis-A vaccines.

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Hepatitis is a concern for many swimmers, surfers and beachgoers in the United States due to the improper disposal of red waste, a hazardous waste, such as syringes. The disease can be spread in the nation’s waters through needle and blood pollution. Officials at Lake Michigan beaches encourage visitors to take caution at the beach this month. It is believed that the red waste pollution traveled from Milwaukee sewer overflows. The syringes could carry bacteria and viruses containing hepatitis and AIDS. At San Diego’s Imperial Beach, pollution is high in the popular surfing location. The beach receives sewage run-off from Southern California's Tijuana River. Officials worry that bodies have been discarded into the area along the river, thus contaminating the water. Many local surfers received hepatitis-A vaccines.

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Most Surprising Waterborne Infections

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Most Surprising Waterborne Infections

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Check the status of your favorite beaches at the NRDC's Testing the Waters database.

For tips on safe swimming, visit the Center for Disease Control's Healthy Swimming site.

Comments

[m2b]

12:39 AM on 10/05/2010

12 year old dies after only feet touched the water.

http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/reports-deadly-flesh-eating-bacteria-gulf-only-touching-seafood-having-feet-water-video

[Paul Burke]

04:25 PM on 08/24/2010

You know the old saying when it comes to computer programming sh** in sh** out - well the same is true for the environment and our bodies. If we keep treating the oceans as a sewer system we'll destroy our food source and ingest disease through a contaminated food chain - or simply by wading in - as an old body surfer - my excursions to the ocean were more than just sport and recreation - it was a religious experience - that we have somehow become so disconnected with the very world around us that sustains us is criminal, negligent, unenlightened, arrogant, unaware and disgraceful in the eyes of god, humanity, and all of what is seen and unseen.

[Bolkonsky]

08:51 PM on 08/23/2010

They left out Vibrio - flesh eating bacteria.

Claims the limbs and lives of many wade fishermen down here in the Gulf.

[m2b]

02:02 AM on 08/25/2010

That's scary.

[Bolkonsky]

09:36 AM on 08/25/2010

It is. In my lifetime i remember times when if you had a cut or a wound, it was thought to be healing to take a swim in the surf. And by and large it actually was. No longer. You literally take your life in your hands if you expose the tiniest cut to our polluted oceans and bays now.

[thundermummy]

10:10 AM on 08/22/2010

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water.....

[research]

09:03 PM on 08/22/2010

you owe me a coke!

[thundermummy]

07:54 AM on 08/23/2010

You didn't say poke poke!

[omisade7]

06:56 AM on 08/22/2010

this organisms and their resistent strains are readily passed along in most major hospitals without visiting the beach.

[outnow]

06:00 PM on 08/21/2010

There are too many humans on this planet to use rivers and storm drains as sewers. Oil drilling and shipping cause spills. MRSA will get into your surffer's knots, you will get gastroenteritis, and dead bodies are being dumped into the ocean down in T.J. Mexico so that Imperial beach is a health threat to surfers and swimmers. You might get menningitis or hepatitis. Even Legionnaire's.

Needless to say, Mission Bay, especially the back bay (East Bay) is polluted.

This is why I do not surf or windsurf around San Diego, California. Even in La Jolla, it is too polluted for me.

[Thylacinus]

04:14 PM on 08/21/2010

human have really screwed this planet to no end. No should not worry about catching AIDS, hepatitis or any other disease simply by going for a swim. Now there's talk of finding some other planet to colonize (and screw up also) because we have literally flushes this planet down the toilet.

[MerrieWay]

04:16 AM on 08/21/2010

What happened to the quality control warnings? Guess everyone knows it's sewage 24//7...is that the consensus...or a wild guess.

[ibsteve2u]

10:12 PM on 08/20/2010

I read

"For the last five years, there have been 18,000 beach closings across the United States. 2009 brought 18,682 days of closures and notices as a result of water contamination and pollution at beaches throughout the United States."

and I chuckle again over the righties I've seen claiming that the oil spill in the Gulf "couldn't" do any harm because the Gulf "is too big".

Most righties constantly use the argument that "liberals" and "tree huggers" just cannot see "the big picture" - all while being completely unaware that their own vision is bounded by the volume of their wallets.

[NextNyc]

08:11 PM on 08/20/2010

Personally anyone who goes in the ocean nowadays is making a concious decisions to swim in a massive toxic stew of chemicals and plastics. I say, more power these idiots, having fun swimming in the globes garabge Dump.

[ilovecandy]

09:35 AM on 08/21/2010

What about the biologist. I'm studying marine science, and have to go into the ocean.

[Thylacinus]

04:16 PM on 08/21/2010

as a person who studies marine life, you obviously aren't ignorant to the problems and plights of the worlds oceans.

[deweydecimal]

09:33 PM on 08/22/2010

You shouldn't forget to worry about the garbage that is found on land as well considering it's more concentrated than in the 70% of the earth's surface that's covered by water.

[humanfilter]

07:43 PM on 08/20/2010

Is the point of this article to lessen the shock of what British Petroleum has done to the Gulf?

[Martha Gold]

07:33 PM on 08/20/2010

Do you mean SURPRISING???

[cashmann]

06:30 PM on 08/20/2010

A.I.D.S. is to fragile to survive even in a syringe.

[Thylacinus]

04:19 PM on 08/21/2010

Syringes are one "environment" where HIV and AIDS can survive, in some cases for several days, since blood is trapped in the needle where it cannot be dried out. For this reason, used needles should be thrown out and not reused, especially by someone other than the first user.

[deweydecimal]

09:34 PM on 08/22/2010

There's no such thing as AIDS in a syringe. The HIV virus in a syringe that's a different matter.

[kona-apeman]

06:23 PM on 08/20/2010

Lots of staph here, really have to watch those open wounds if you're going into the ocean. When I was a kid (back East), they always told us to go into the ocean because the salt water would sterilize the cut--oops. No way I'm staying out of the water, but I am more paranoid of infections than I used to be.

[Jeanpierre Prieur]

06:03 PM on 08/20/2010

I know people who swims everyday in the ocean and never catch any "GERM"... are they lucky? I don't know...
Your green friend http://www.leapadaptive.com/