Cryptosporidium parasite: is it safe to swim in the sea?

Holidaymakers are being urged to avoid swimming at British beaches with poor water ratings after a schoolgirl was infected with a parasite after playing in the Devon sea.

Erin Town, 12, was rushed to hospital after falling ill on 24 July. Doctors later discovered she had contracted cryptosporidiosis, a highly infectious disease caused by the parasite cryptosporidium.

Erin’s temperature hit 40C and she suffered stomach cramps and vomiting, reports the Daily Mail.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Her mother, Paulina Town, said that they had not realised their local Wildersmouth Beach, in Ilfracombe, had poor water quality and that her daughter had been swimming there with friends almost every day for two weeks before becoming ill, says the Daily Mirror.

She continued: “When I told the nurse that [Erin] had been swimming at Wildersmouth in Ilfracombe, she pulled a bit of a face and said several people had been ill after swimming there.

“She said she wouldn’t even take her dog in the water there.”

Katy Nicholls, public protection manager for North Devon Council, said the authority has not received “formal notification from any health body confirming a diagnosis of cryptosporidium”.

She added: “We currently consider this to be an isolated incident, and in light of Wildersmouth Beach being an undesignated bathing beach, we do not intend to take any further action.”

What is cryptosporidiosis?

Cryptosporidiosis is a parasite most commonly seen in children aged between one and five, according to Public Health England. People with weak immune systems are likely to be more seriously affected, and the most common symptom is mild to severe diarrhoea.

“The parasites are resistant to chlorine. Outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis have been linked to drinking or swimming in contaminated water and contact with infected lambs and calves during visits to open farms,” the government agency adds.

Is it safe to swim in the sea?

For the most part, yes. Contracting cryptosporidiosis from seawater is rare unless the body of water has been contaminated with infected faeces. Swimming at beaches with sewage outlets nearby puts bathers at higher risk.

Patient.info says that the highest risk of contracting cryptosporidiosis comes from swimming in the sea in “less developed countries”.

A sign at Wildersmouth Beach states that people should not swim there as it has a poor water rating, although Erin Town’s mother claims the notice was too small to be seen easily.

The Environment Agency water quality profile for the beach states that “bathing at this location is not advised due to poor water quality”. Samples taken between 2014 and 2017 repeatedly failed to meet minimum EU standards.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Wildersmouth Beach is rated as poor and we advise people not to swim or bathe here. We encourage the public to stay safe by checking for signs at beaches put up by the local authority.

“We carry out regular testing at over 400 bathing waters around England and make the results available to the public.”

You can check the status of beaches in Britain by visiting the Environment Agency’s bathing water quality website.