IntroductionIn the United States and elsewhere, recreational water quality is monitored for fecal indicator bacteria to help prevent swimming-associated illnesses. Standard methods to measure these bacteria take at least 24 hours to obtain results. Molecular approaches such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) can estimate these bacteria faster, in under 3 hours. Previously, we demonstrated that measurements of the fecal indicator bacteria Enterococcus using qPCR were associated with gastrointestinal (GI) illness among swimmers at freshwater beaches. In this paper, we report on results from three marine beach sites.MethodsWe interviewed beach-goers and collected water samples at marine beaches affected by treated sewage discharges in Mississippi in 2005, and Rhode Island and Alabama in 2007. Ten to twelve days later, we obtained information about gastrointestinal, respiratory, eye, ear and skin symptoms by telephone. We tested water samples for fecal indicator organisms using qPCR and other methods.ResultsWe enrolled 6,350 beach-goers. The occurrence of GI illness among swimmers was associated with a log10-increase in exposure to qPCR-determined estimates of fecal indicator organisms in the genus Enterococcus (AOR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.3-5.1) and order Bacteroidales (AOR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.3-2.9). Estimates of organisms related to Clostridium perfringens and a subgroup of organisms in the genus Bacteroides were also determined by qPCR in 2007, as was F+ coliphage, but relationships between these indicators and illness were not statistically significant.ConclusionsThis study provides the first evidence of a relationship between gastrointestinal illness and estimates of fecal indicator organisms determined by qPCR at marine beaches.

Organochlorine (OC) pesticides have been used broadly in China's past, yet very little is known about their atmospheric concentrations and transport. In this work, air samples were collected in the Taihu Lake Region, China, from July 23 to August 11, 2002, to measure concentrations of OC pesticides in air. The average concentrations of alpha and gamma- hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), heptachlor (HEPT), alpha-endosulfan, p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDD, and o,p'-DDT in the air were 74 and 46, 47, 53, 307, 124, 212, 36, and 767 pg m(-3), respectively. It was interesting to note that the concentrations of p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE, and o,p'-DDT were all very high, even though the use of technical DDT has been banned in China since 1983. Moreover, the average concentration ratios of o,p'-DDT/p,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE/p,p'-DDT were as high as 6.3 and 1.8. This suggested that there could be an unknown source of DDT-related compounds (DDTs), especially o,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE. It is very likely that this unknown source was the application of dicofol, an acaricide manufactured from technical DDT and used mainly on cotton fields to treat mites in China. Backward trajectory analysis also provided consistent evidence that the high air concentrations of DDTs were related to trajectories from the area north of the Yangtze River, where cotton fields account for a significant fraction of land use.

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