Sunderland is about 44 miles north-east of Whitby as the crow (or seagull) flies, and about 21 miles to Teesmouth (the River Tees being the site of the suspect dredging that might have resulted in high levels of pyridine - see link posted by Paul H. - [www.newscientist.com]).

Does pyridine have any connection with e-coli?

Apparently there might be a "a pyridine nucleotide cycle in Escherichia coli" (https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(19)43684-3/pdf#:~:text=There%20are%20two%20pyridine%20nucleotide,which%20does%20not%20involve%20nicotinamide.: 5155).

According to this paper - Pyridine Derivatives—A New Class of Compounds That Are Toxic to E. coli K12, R2–R4 Strains; Koszelewski et al. [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov] - it looks as if pyridine might counter e-coli in some way. According to an online explanation:

<< This study involved testing these pyridine compounds against different strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria, which were modified to have varying types and lengths of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules in their structures. >>

So possibly the pyridine (allegedly) thrown up in the Tees Estuary might not have any connection with the alleged e-coli poisoning of the swimmers in Sunderland.

Hermione
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