Jay Watley recently wrote a blog that we posted on TheRockStation99X.com about a drunk guy in New Orleans.  Seems this Mensa member thought it would be fun to go for a swim in a puddle on Bourbon Street.  There is even a video attached to the blog that bears testament to the episode.

Anybody that's ever set foot in the French Quarter knows that Bourbon Street is one of the nastiest streets in America.  The puddles are so famously dirty that they have their own nickname--Bourbon Gumbo.  (Everybody say, "Ewwww!") Now there's scientific data that supports this presumption, according to a report from the Louisiana Radio Network.

Last September, a company out of Milwaukee called Microbe Detectives took a trip to The Big Easy to take some samples from puddles on Bourbon Street.  The goal was to identify microbes and bacteria in the water using DNA sequencing.  What they found was fecal bacteria, and lots of it.

Microbe Detectives' Chief Technology Officer Dr. Trevor Ghylin says, “We ended up finding a lot of fecal associated bacteria. Most of these bacteria were harmless bacteria that are typically found in the guts of large mammals, like horses.” That bacteria no doubt comes from police horses that patrol the area and regularly do their business on the street.

The City Of New Orleans does what it can by cleaning the street every night, but it's basically just hosing it down.  Unless bleach or some other disinfectant is added, the bacteria won't die.  There were no pathogens found in the water samples, but Ghylin says that it's "...probably a good idea not to be too exposed to that stuff."  You think?

 

 

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