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Prospective epidemiological studies on the possible health effects from sea bathing were carried out at seven popular New Zealand bathing beaches over the 1995 summer. The association of gastrointestinal/ respiratory symptoms or other infections with human or animal faecal contamination of the beach water was examined. Beach users were interviewed at the beach and then followed up within 5 days to ascertain any illness symptoms. On each of the 107 interview days multiple samples of the beach water were examined for three faecal indicators (faecal coliforms, E. coli , enterococci). Of the usable responses, 2307 users did not enter the water; 1577 did. Log-linear modelling showed that enterococci was most strongly and consistently associated with illness risk for the exposed groups, particularly for respiratory illness among paddlers and long-duration swimmers. Crude risk differences for these two …