Brixham: Water disease outbreak may last a week – and infected could be ill for up to a month, expert warns
Those infected after a water parasite outbreak in Devon could be ill for up to a month, an expert has told Sky News.
Residents in parts of Brixham were told to boil their drinking water on Thursday after 22 cases of cryptosporidiosis were confirmed in and around the area.
Professor Paul Hunter, a specialist in medical microbiology at the University of East Anglia, has now told Sky News the issue for water supplies could last at least a week, and that “it’s not unusual to be ill for a month” with the disease.
He explained if the parasite cryptosporidium – which causes cryptosporidiosis – is “a continuous thing” present in water supplies for a prolonged period, then “you’d expect to see more cases”.
What is the parasite found in Devon drinking water?
South West Water said “small traces” of the parasite were found in the water supply in Devon on Wednesday.
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Residents ‘worried’ over water parasite
The water company added it was “urgently investigating” the findings in the Alston and Hillhead areas of the local water network – which supplies customers in Brixham, Boohay, Kingswear, Roseland and North West Paignton – and apologised for the inconvenience.
Prof Hunter added there is “no specific treatment” for the disease, which causes diarrhoea symptoms, and “there’s nothing we can do to shorten the length” of time people battle the illness.
He also said most people “will get over it in two to four weeks” and swimming in the ocean is not likely to cause infection.
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Those at most risk are “quite severely immunocompromised” or are children who “do get more problems” from the disease.
It comes after hundreds of people said on a local Facebook group have reported symptoms of cryptosporidiosis over the last week.
The UK Health Security Agency said 22 people are confirmed to have the disease, and as many as 70 other cases of diarrhoea and vomiting in residents and visitors to Brixham are also under investigation. More confirmed cases are expected.
‘Keep drinking water. That’s made her worse. We’re in a dreadful state.’
‘The water’s made her worse’
Chaz Attwood, who lives near the affected reservoir, told Sky News his wife has diabetes and has been ill for 16 days after drinking contaminated water.
“My wife has been drinking water to keep hydrated because she’s diabetic and the insulin that she’s had to have has doubled, and basically that affected her to start with,” he said.
“So that’s made her worse. We’re in a dreadful state. She was so weak I even phoned 999, and told the guy what was happening because she’d collapsed.”
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David Sneyd, also a resident in the area and immunosuppressed, said he noticed “absolutely nothing until it was announced”.
He added he had stomach cramps “for just over a week” and “didn’t think anything of it until a couple of days ago when it all sort of blew up through social media”.
Leaflets reminding locals in the affected areas to boil their tap water have been sent, but Mr Sneyd told Sky News he only received his last night.
The leaflet also promises that customers affected will automatically receive a £15 payment from South West Water.
Anthony Mangnall, Conservative MP for Totnes and South Devon, said earlier on social media South West Water’s response in Brixham “needs to be faster”.
He added: “I hope to see the system back up and running shortly & the compensation level increased beyond the current £15.”
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
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Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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