A parasitic disease outbreak left hundreds of serving British Armed Forces personnel deployed to Kenya suffering from diarrhoea.
Military medics recently revealed that, in 2022, 172 soldiers fell ill with what they believe was an outbreak of cryptosporidium, the first of its kind in the British Army’s history.
The unprecedented parasitic infections hit the Nanyuki barracks, leaving the personnel with severe bouts of diarrhoea which, for some, lasted more than a week.
The sheer number of infections meant that roughly a fifth of the 1,200 active troops stationed in Kenya at that time ultimately fell ill.
According to army medics, the entire outbreak could be traced back to one recreational pool.
The initial outbreak occurred nearly two years ago, but details only came to light this week.
Researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Royal Centre for Defence Medicine disclosed the cluster of cases in a study published in the Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
The researchers, who were based at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, reported that each of the dozens of cases were isolated while they collected outbreak data and that it initially puzzled armed forces officials.
Cryptosporidium is a water-borne parasite that typically only infects people swimming in pools.
The parasite, which is resistant to chemicals like chlorine, is spread when contaminated faecal matter – poo – washes off an infected person’s anus and enters through the mouth.
In the case of the Nanyuki barracks, investigations revealed the water in which the personnel swam was contaminated.
Soldiers also reported that raw sewage entered the water they used recreationally.
Cryptosporidium is both the name of the disease and the microscopic parasite that causes symptoms.
Multiple types of the parasites exist that infect different animals, causing symptoms like dehydration, nausea, vomiting, fever, watery diarrhoea and stomach cramps.
The 2022 case is far from the first of its kind, with armed forces personnel from other countries having experienced outbreaks of their own, including the US, Germany and France.
