Safety of river & tidal mud etc.

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Hi all,

There have been various discussions on safety in mud in the past but this week's Countryfile on BBC1 featured an investigation by John Craven into beach safety. (Viewable in the UK for the next 4 days or so. See segments from 10:30-17:00 and 23:55-29:40)

The results are shocking and the details are worth seeing. He finds that viruses that can cause severe infection can survive in sea water for months, which rather dispels the concept that salt water is sufficient to disinfect any nasties. It seems that it would make sense to try to keep the mud away from eyes, nose, mouth and ears. As some of the bugs arise from a mixture of human waste and animal dung being washed via rivers into the sea, inland mud can be just as nasty.

Only today, the report was published about the deadly E-coli 0157 outbreak at a farm last year which affected 90 people, with some children suffering permanent kidney damage which will require future transplants. It just goes to show that, just because we might not have suffered from it in the past doesn't mean that we can't. We just need to be careful and sensible when sploshing in natural non-food-grade substances.

[wampony]

I agree with using caution when playing in mud. It is something I have done in the past, but I never put any on my face on purpose, the occasional splash of it gets there, but never full face coverage.
Now I don't get much chance to get messy these days, but I had to miss a fantastic opportunity a while ago, due to having a largish surface graze on my arm (caused by an accident while working on my house), and it was healing nicely and I didn't want to risk getting anything nasty in it.

I seemed to recall when I was working on a farm I was told to make sure my Tetanus injections were up to date, as the virus lives in the soil.

I think we should all use caution, but still enjoy our messy hobby. I enjoyed playing in the mud while wearing my riding outfit last week (pictures on here), and it is still a fun thing to do-just think first

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Yes, that's exactly the sort of thing I mean. Have fun but think first.

I raised the issue because I remember some people recently saying that tidal mud is washed twice a day by salt water. They were under the impression that this sterilises it. As that video shows, this is certainly not the case. The fact that Hepatitis A gets washed into rivers and the sea and can survive there for over 100 days is just one example. See Surfers Against Sewage

I'm just off to investigate my favourite muddy pond this evening!

Carry on all !

[chantelle]

Thanks Claymore,however you probably all remember how i used to wallow around in the mud especially the estuary mud down at Barling,and then later in the clay which was a wash off from the nearby gravel workings.I used to do absolutely face down,buried everything and must admit i never suffered any problems (always had cotton wool in my ears though lol) bet ya didnt know that one hehehe.

Cede also used to do full on mud shoots and she never got a problem.

I would be more concerned doing shoots in a still muddy pond,especially if located on a farm as all sorts of dung and fertilisers can end up getting washed into those places.
As Claymore says though be careful and if it should look dodgy keep out.
Beware of any algae on still ponds by the way THAT can cause problems

kisses to all

Chantelle xxxxx

[alext]

Definitely something to bear in mind - thanks for the advice Chantelle (nice to see you back, by the way!) and Claymore.

I got an ear infection from mud sploshing a few years back, so I wear earplugs now whenever I get messy in it. Not something worth learning the hard way