Update on cryptosporidium outbreak at Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre

Dr Gwen Lowe, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control for the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS), said on behalf of the Outbreak Control Team:

“Investigations into an outbreak of cryptosporidium at Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre are continuing.

“In total, 48 people with symptoms have been identified, all of them associated in some way with swimming activities at the Leisure Centre on the same weekend in mid August.

“Seventeen of these have now been confirmed with cryptosporidium through laboratory testing.

“It has not been possible to laboratory test all those with symptoms because many have made a full recovery and cannot have stool samples taken.

“Our investigations still show that the most likely source of the illness was a faecal accident in one of the two smaller pools on a specific weekend in mid August. Our advice remains that anyone who has had diarrhoea from any cause should not swim for two weeks after their symptoms have settled.

“Investigations like this take time but I would like to reassure people that we have found no evidence of any increased risk to the public from swimming at the Leisure Centre.”