More than 600 cases have been detected in recent weeks among British and Irish tourists.
British and Irish tourists in Spain have suffered a rise in cases of a stomach bug that is commonly caught in hotel swimming pools, a new study has found.
So far this year, there have been 2,940 cases of cryptosporidiosis, a diarrhoeal disease caused by a parasite and in 121 cases people have been hospitalised.
This is a huge increase in comparison with last year when there were only 805 cases, according to Spain’s National Epidemiology Centre.
More than 600 cases have been detected in recent weeks among British and Irish tourists, according to a preliminary study by a scientific journal Eurosurveillance. Experts said the surge in cases was caused by more people travelling this year.
“We have described an ongoing and unusual exceedance in disease caused by cryptosporidium,” the report said.
“Responses to surveillance questionnaires suggest many cases relate to international travel, most notably to Spain and other Mediterranean countries. The exceedance may, in part, reflect increasing summer travel to the European continent in 2023.”
The report said historical data suggested travel to Spain accounted for 40-50 per cent of UK foreign travel before the pandemic and 33 per cent in 2022.
The parasite may be passed on in hotel swimming pools or in water parks or people not cleaning themselves properly.
Jacob Lorenzo-Morales, director of the University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands from the University of La Laguna, has dealt with cryptosporidium outbreaks.
“Swimming pools and water parks are a recurring focus of outbreaks but the fact that they happen has more to do with the hygiene of some users than with the cleanliness of these spaces, which are subject to strict regulations,” he told El País newspaper.
“If someone does not clean themselves well after going to the bathroom or uses a swimming pool after having diarrhoea without respecting the recommended 14 days, they will release thousands of oocysts into the water.”
Oocysts are cysts that can spread parasites. If several people enter a swimming pool, it can spread the infection.
The Eurosurveillance report said: “We have described an ongoing and unusual exceedance in disease caused by cryptosporidium.
“Responses to surveillance questionnaires suggest many cases relate to international travel, most notably to Spain and other Mediterranean countries. The exceedance may in part reflect increasing summer travel to the European continent in 2023.”
The report said historical data suggested travel to Spain accounted for 40-50 per cent of UK foreign travel before the pandemic and 33 per cent in 2022.
The Irish government said there had been outbreaks at resorts like Salou on the Costa Dorada, south of Barcelona.
- Original Article: i News
- Date: November 2023