Off to the Beach? Bring sunscreen… and Antibiotics

A new study by researchers at UCLA and Stanford finds that 1.5 million people are sickened by Southern California beaches each year costing millions of dollars in public healthcare costs, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

The study covered 100 miles of So Cal shoreline and found that, of those who visited these beaches, almost 1.5 million more people developed gastrointestinal illnesses than what would normally be expected.

But 1.5 million is a lowball estimate. According to the Mercury News, "Gastrointestinal illness is most commonly associated with swimming in contaminated water… the study did not examine the prevalence of other illnesses associated with polluted water."

The excess gastrointestinal illnesses caused by ocean exposure cost an estimated 21 to 414 million dollars according to the UCLA/Stanford study.

So the next time you run out to the beach, don't forget the sunscreen, your copy of the Da Vinci Code that you've been meaning to read, a blanket, sunglasses and now… a bottle of antibiotics.