British and Irish tourists in Spain are on the receiving end of a sharp rise in cases of a violent stomach bug – with the swimming pools in hotels thought to be at fault.
Cases of the diarrhoea-inducing disease have rocketed up from 805 in 2022, to 2,940 in 2023, with 121 people left in hospital, i News reports.
Brits and Irish tourists have had a surge in contractions of the bug – known formally as cryptosporidiosis – in recent weeks, as over 600 cases were detected. One resort singled out by the Irish government was Salou on the Costa Dorada, south of Barcelona.
Experts have blamed environments like swimming pools and water parks for the disease’s rapid spread, while also pointing out the main reason for the increase is that far more people are visiting Spain compared to recent years.
Jacob Lorenzo-Morales, director of Public Health of the Canary Islands, blamed swimming pools and water parks, but said the outbreaks tend to have “more to do with the hygiene of some users than with the cleanliness of these spaces, which are subject to strict regulations”.
Talking to El Pais newspaper, he said people need to “clean themselves well” after going to the bathroom, otherwise they will release “thousands of oocysts” (parasite-spreading cysts) into the water for people to potentially ingest.
Cryptosporidiosis – sometimes shortened to just crypto – is caused by a parasite found in poo.
While the disease is not usually life-threatening, it can lead to potentially ‘life-threatening’ illness for those with weak immune systems.
Symptoms include diarrhoea, vomiting, weight loss, stomach cramps and fever.
