Prevention of infectious diseases in harbour divers: how environmental parameters can help

Maritime environment health risks related to pathogenic microorganisms in seawater

“…It would also be useful to conduct microbiological analyses according to both the season and major meteorological parameters such as rainfall and events such as flooding. These events can considerably alter the microbial ecology of a given marine environment [5,109].…”

“…A recent study on this subject conducted in Latin America showed how concentrations of adenovirus, rotavirus and norovirus varied depending on rainfall [4]. A study in a French port also recently showed that seawater contamination fluctuates according to rainfall [5].…”

Infectious diseases affecting occupational divers: review of 2017 literature

“…The rate of coliform bacteria was very high. The occupational divers, as for them, are not allowed to dive in such waters, or, if it is the case, they dive in a waterproof suit [14]. This may explain a lower prevalence of infections in professional divers than among recreational divers.…”

“…The primary prevention consists in avoiding getting in contact with waters containing a great quantity of germs [14]. The second side of the primary prevention consists in applying of good hygiene measures: rinsing the equipment, shower after diving, steady cleaning of the equipment with antiseptic soaps; or also, the maintenance of the saturation systems [17].…”

“…Yet, occupational divers seem to be running far fewer risks [13]. Furthermore in order to characterise biological hazards some teams studied the microbiologic environment surface parameters to finally assess the infectious risk on divers [14].…”