Cryptosporidium bug affects thousands in Gwynedd

Cryptosporidium in Gwynedd water supply

14/08/2008

Welsh Water have  advised 5,000 people living in the Tywyn, Aberdyfi, Bryncrug, Rhyd-yr-Onnen and Brynglas areas of Gwynedd to boil their drinking water or  to use bottled water as a precaution after reports of Cryptosporidium  has been located in the water supply.

It is not yet known whether the notice issued on  11 August will be lifted or extended. The Consultant in Communicable Disease Control  fot the Welsh Public Health Service Dr Chris Whiteside ,  said: “We are advising GPs in the area to look out for cases of bad diarrhoea and to take samples so we can test for gastrointestinal illnesses such as Cryptosporidium. If members of the public who have drunk water in the affected area on Sunday become ill we advise them to see their GP as a precaution.”

The parasite has an incubation period of up to two weeks. Although there is no specific treatment for cryptosporidiosis, most people with a healthy immune system should recover within a period of a week or so.

Irwin Mitchell Solicitors have recently been instructed in cases involving illness caused by Cryptosporidium in   the recent outbreak in the Northamptonshire water supply.

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