Are surfers at risk from MRSA? Study aims to show if superbugs pose dangers

As a longtime surfer, Megyn Rugh knows that surfing comes with risks — especially when it comes to what lingers in dirty waters.

Rugh, a graduate student from UCLA, is helping to spearhead a study to find out just how funky Southern Californias ocean water might be.

The Surfer Resistance Project, conducted by students at UCLA, aims at finding out if “superbugs” are present in wave riders and surf breaks. Photo courtesy of Megyn Rugh.
The Surfer Resistance Project, conducted by students at UCLA, aims at finding out if “superbugs” are present in wave riders and surf breaks. Photo courtesy of Megyn Rugh.
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The Surfer Resistance Project, conducted by students at UCLA, aims at finding out if “superbugs” are present in wave riders and surf breaks. Photo courtesy of Megyn Rugh.
The Surfer Resistance Project, conducted by students at UCLA, aims at finding out if “superbugs” are present in wave riders and surf breaks. Photo courtesy of Megyn Rugh.
The Surfer Resistance Project, conducted by students at UCLA, aims at finding out if “superbugs” are present in wave riders and surf breaks. Photo courtesy of Megyn Rugh.

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The study uses surfers as test subjects to see whether they are showing evidence of potentially dangerous MRSA, a “superbug” that can be tough to tackle even with potent antibiotics.

And so far, some areas of the coastline showed “surprising” results for the Surfer Resistance Project.

“The first time I did it, I didnt want to believe it,” Rugh, who is working on the study as part of her doctoral research, said of the results from her first water quality tests.

Surfers as subjects[hhmc]

For more than a decade, students studying under UCLA professor Jennifer Jay have been testing water quality, focusing on fecal-indicator bacteria and molecular-source tracking.

More recently, students have become interested in learning more about a bacteria known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

MRSA is a type of bacteria that is resistant to several antibiotics. It most often causes skin infections, but in other cases, it can cause pneumonia.

Sometimes, if untreated, it can cause sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to severe infection in the body, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

MRSA can be transferred with an infected wound or by sharing personal items like towels or razors, or even in crowded spaces through skin-to-skin contact, shared equipment or supplies.

Studies show that about one in three people carry staph in their noses, usually without any illness, with two in 100 people carrying MRSA, according to the CDC.

“Rising levels of superbugs are a critical public health problem worldwide, with current superbug related deaths accounting for at least 700,000 lives lost per year,” reads a summary of the UCLA project.

Previous students had been testing on farm workers, attempting to figure out if they were more at risk for antibiotic-resistant bacteria living in the soil, water and air in agricultural areas, Rugh said.

Rugh, who grew up surfing along the central California coast, wanted to do similar studies, but testing specifically for MRSA.

During her undergraduate studies, she had done water-quality testing in areas like Topanga Canyon, where fecal contaminants were high because of storm runoff.

“I always knew the water here was dirty,” she said.

Surfers, she said, make the perfect subjects.

“They are a great group because they are in this polluted water, they willingly go in during the rain storms if the surf is good, even if youre advised to not go in the water,” she said. “When youre surfing, theres head submerging, sometimes getting water in your nose.”

And she wants to know if that water is housing a potentially deadly MRSA bacteria.

“The CDC is interesting to see if this can be documented,” Rugh said. “Its a hot research area right now.”

Pretty gross[hhmc]

The study launched last winter, starting in Malibu and collecting data from 15 beaches around Southern California, down to Cabrillo in San Pedro and a few in San Diego, including Imperial Beach because of its reputation for contaminants flowing from the Tijuana River.

Because of funding limitations, she skipped surf spots in Orange County.

Data was collected from Santa Monica Pier, to Venice and El Porto, Manhattan Pier and Torrance Beach, Redondo and the cove in Palos Verdes.

Venice Beach had one of the highest levels of MRSA, with 117 colony-forming units (cfus) per liter of water.

“Thats pretty gross,” Rugh said. “You dont want anything to be growing at all.”

The study also looked at surfer samples, obtained through nose swabs last spring.

“If I get five surfers who get MRSA, does that correlate with the water being dirtier that week? Rugh said.

Further tests[hhmc]

Another goal of the research is to find out how MRSA is getting into the ocean. Is it from live stock or fertilizer upstream, or could wastewater from a hospital be funneling it to beaches?

The study partners with Surfrider, Heal the Bay, and USC Sea Grant to continue monitoring pathogens at the beaches and take nasal swab samples from a group of surfers and a non-surfing control group to look at how these antibiotic-resistant organisms colonize in humans.

One of the challenges, Rugh said, is getting surfers to let her swab the inside of their noses for samples.

“They think Im really weird,” she said jokingly.

The group has funding for about 80 participants to analyze for MRSA, but hopes a crowdfunding effort will help them expand their research. Already, $2,000 of the $5,000 goal has been raised.

“The results of this important study will help us protect the health of surfers and other ocean swimmers,” reads the fundraising site. “In addition, this work addresses the issue of rising antibiotic resistance, which has been increasingly recognized as one of foremost health challenges of the next generation.”

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