The surf is up, filled with the salty waters of antibiotic resistance. A study published in the Environment International journal found that surfers were three times as likely to be carrying antibiotic resistant E. coli in their stool than non-surfers. Researchers believe this is because surfers are more likely to swallow water than the non-surfing population. As someone who has tried surfing exactly once, I can attest that I unintentionally swallowed much more Venice Beach ocean water than I wanted to.

Newsweek explains:

When antibiotics are fed to livestock and farmers use their manure to fertilize crops, the antibiotics in their system can give rise to [antibiotic resistance]. When those crops are watered, runoff from the fields sometimes make it into bodies of water. When people swim in that water or swallow it, they are prone to infection.

Surfers, who may be generally healthy, are unlikely to get severely sick from ingesting the bacteria. However, “they could spread the bacteria to anyone they interact with, including the elderly and people with compromised immune systems,” resulting in much more severe consequences.