Belgian triathlete who had to pull out of mixed relay had a virus, not E. coli infection
Medical experts hesitant to make direct attribution to athlete’s sickness “caused by swimming in the Seine.”
Photo by:
World Triathlon/ Tommy Zaferes
Belgian triathlete Claire Michel had to pull out of Monday’s mixed relay because she was so sick. That meant the Belgian team, which finished fifth in the event at the Tokyo Games, wasn’t able to participate in the event. Michel has clarified that it wasn’t E. coli that had made her sick – it was a virus.
”There’s been a lot of conflicting information in the media lately, so I just wanted to clarify a few things,” Michel wrote in a post on Instagram. “Blood tests showed that I contracted a virus (not E. Coli). After three days of vomiting and diarrhoea, which left me quite empty. On Sunday, I ended up needing more significant medical attention and spent the day at the clinic.”
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Michel wasn’t the only athlete who had to pull out of the mixed relay due to illness – Switzerland’s Adrien Briffod had a gastrointestinal infection that forced him to withdraw from the race. He was replaced by Simon Westermann, so Switzerland was able to field a team in the mixed relay.
The Swiss Olympic team said it “was impossible to say” if Briffod’s infection was due to the water. And, while Michel might have had a virus rather than an E. coli infection, according to medical experts that still could have come from the water.
“An individual can indeed get an infection from human or animal sewage containing viruses or bacteria that could upset their intestinal tract and lead to symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever,” Dr. William Schaffner from Vanderbilt Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee told MedPageToday.
Schaffner was also quick to point out that it’s important not to draw any conclusions about the athletes getting sick.
“There are no reports of widespread illness, which is very reassuring,” Schaffner said. “Let’s deal with this in a cautious fashion and not make [any] direct attribution that this was caused by swimming in the Seine.”
