The hunt is on to find the source of a faeces-related bacterial outbreak that has indefinitely closed a popular swimming hole in the Gold Coast hinterland.
The Gold Coast city council closed the Currumbin rock pools on Monday afternoon after detecting elevated levels of enterococci, a bacteria caused by faecal contamination.
The natural waterhole remained closed on Thursday morning, with a spokesperson saying the specific source of the outbreak remained unknown, but that the council was “investigating several possibilities”.
Dr Yaoqin Hong from the Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Immunology and Infection Control said the enterococcus was “a very common bowel microorganism” and that the source of the outbreak did not have to be human.
But, as a general rule, investigators would eye the usual suspects when an enterococci outbreak occurred in a popular swimming spot.
“The contamination source … [usually] comes from someone who had an accident in the pool,” he said. “But the source can come from anywhere.”
Social media is awash with other theories, with some pointing the finger at runoff from septic tanks and others concerned about a canine connection.
Many long-term locals also lamented overcrowding at what was once their secret waterhole, with several recalling drinking directly from the rainforest waterfall.
It is not the first time the rock pools have been closed due to faecal-related contamination, with several outbreaks over the last decade.
But this most recent caused painful memories for Michelle Ditton. Despite being the only member of her family who didn’t enter the water on a visit about seven years ago, Ditton was the only one to fall ill afterwards.
“There was a warning about the rock pools … so five of us had to be tested,” she said.
“The medication to treat it was out of my budget. I had to recover without medical intervention and was quite unwell for a time.”
Ditton said she can no longer remember the medical name for her infection, only that it was “a weird parasite long worm type thing”.
But Hong said rock pool swimmers should not be overly concerned about the outbreak.
“I know the news makes it look really scary, but it shouldn’t cause a big alarm,” he said.
Enterococci could cause urinary tract infections and other afflictions, but didn’t normally pose a serious health threat.
Instead the bacteria’s presence was an indication of poor water quality that could point to other “more nasty” bugs in the water. So closing the rock pools was the appropriate thing to do until conditions improved, Hong said.
At which point, swimmers were likely to return to the lush waterhole in droves, a commenter in the local newspaper claimed.
“I reckon people will still swim there underturd,” Garry wrote.
