SHOCKING: Keep your mouth shut! 2016 Rio Olympics athletes, tourists warned of faeces-infested water

New Delhi: The readiness of Rio's preparation for the 2016 Olympics is still a matter of concern for everyone who has got a stake at the Games.

But a real threat which has existed for the famous Brazilian municipality is that of dreadfully unhygienic water. The alarming level of water pollution has reached such a level that doctors and scientists have warned athletes competing in Rio de Janeiro’s waters to keep their mouths shut.

Researchers have found that many of the beaches in Rio de Janeiro have been long contaminated with raw sewage, household garbage, and even dead bodies.

“Foreign athletes will literally be swimming in human crap, and they risk getting sick from all those microorganisms,” Rio paediatrician Dr Daniel Becker told the New York Times. “It’s sad but also worrisome.”

“They can try to block big items like sofas and dead bodies, but these rivers are pure sludge... so the bacteria and viruses are going to just pass through," Stelberto Soares, a municipal engineer told.

Brazil government had promised to clean the pathogen-infested Guanabara Bay, where majority of open-water competitions of the Games will be held, in 2014, but efforts seemed to have failed.

“We just have to keep our mouths closed,” Afrodite Zegers of the Dutch sailing team told.

According to a report, Rio’s waters have been found to contain viruses up to 1.7 million times more hazardous than an American beach.

As many as 500,000 people are expected to descend on the city this month for the world's greatest sporting spectacle, which starts on 5 August.