HUNTINGTON BEACH : Surfers’ Ailments Probed by County

The Orange County Health Agency is looking into whether a group of surfers who complained of severe sinus infections after a tournament near the mouth of the Santa Ana River could have picked up the illness from ocean water.

Surfers said eight people have suffered head congestion and eye and ear infections after surfing from May 11 to 15 just north of where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean. Two of them called the health agency and said they thought pollution might be the cause.

“It’s certainly possible,” that they contracted an illness while surfing, said Dr. Hildy Meyers, a county epidemiologist. “But it’s extremely hard to document and prove.”

She said officials are trying to determine if the two surfers could have gotten ill from surfing or if they picked up the disease someplace else.

Meyers said the two surfers gave detailed information about their symptoms and whether they could have gotten ill from family members or from eating something.

“We encourage the others to call in also so we can look for common factors,” Meyers said.

One surfer, Paul Gomez, said he thought he would get over a sinus infection he contracted during the tournament. But he drove himself to a hospital emergency room when he did not shake it by Sunday. Doctors concluded he was suffering from a severe viral infection and gave him medication to fight the pain.

The Santa Ana River mouth is known as being more polluted than other Orange County beaches, especially after rainstorms when runoff washes down the river.

Corinne Clawson, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sanitation Districts said water testers found higher-than-normal levels of coliform bacteria in the water at the river mouth on May 16. However, officials said the levels were not high enough to close the beach.

Meyers said the presence of the bacteria could indicate that the water in the area may cause illness in people.