Infected tap water linked with Cryptosporidium

[topseyturvey]

We had a letter through the door this morning from our water company to say due to the heavy rainfall they have monitered our water and shows traces of cryptosporidium were present.
We have been advised to boil all water.

My children have been drinking diluted juices yesterday and my son complained of a stomach pain yesterday.
i drank some water last night before going to bed and woke about 2am with terrible stomach cramps and diarrohea.

Anyone have any experience with this and am now worrying about my son who has special needs and is still in nappies and has to be changed at school .

I have kept him off school today and not sure what the schools procedure would be on this regards the water in school.

Am I over reacting?

I would ring the water company and see what they say.

crypospridium is actually parasites in the water and the symptoms are as you describe.

I used to live near Tenby and about 10years ago the water supply to the whole village and others was infected with cryptosporidium. I was ill for about 3 days.

If it was me I think I'd drink bottled water for a few days. Infact when it happened to us we were given a pallet of bottled water by the water board and told to use that.

Thanks for the replys.

We have been using bottled water this morning.

Was unsure about what to do with regards to school .
Can the virus be passed on to others?

[http://www.sofht.co.uk/isfht/irish_97_cryptosporidium.htm]

See here; it is transferable from person to person.

www.sofht.co.uk/isfht/irish_97_cryptosporidium.htm

Thanks for the link.

The local water supply where we live in Scotland was polluted with cryptosporidium a few years back and around 80 people became ill so no, I don't think you're over-reacting. Luckily, our small area is supplied from elsewhere so we weren't affected but plenty of friends had to use bottled or boiled water.

I would really recommend a plumbed in water filter. It works out much cheaper than bottled water in the long run, and doesn't use all that plastic.

There was a report in the British Medical Journal a few years back detailing all the bugs found in various brands of bottled water.

Also - I am not conviced that all this plastic packaging is good for us.

I have had my water filter for 12 years. It needs a new cartridge once a year. The cartridge is nearly a kilo heavier at the end of the year than at the beginning - even after allowing it to dry out.

You should definitely seek medical advice - the local GPs will have been prepared by local public health department as to what to do.

I do hope you all feel better soon, and that you get appropriate investigations and treatment.

Crypto infection is agonising, the stomach cramps are up there with labour pains.

Crytospiridium is not a virus; it isn't passed on by casual contact.
And you can't filter it out, MUST boil the water instead.

Yoohoo Topsy, I think you & me live in the same town!!!

I'm looking to get one of these filter things 3littlefrogs. Which one have you got?

Thanks for the advice,have spoken to the water company and got more information.

Will look into getting a filter as well as tend to buy a lot of bottled water so cost wise it would be cheaper in the long run.

lljkk-Are you in NW?

I have just come back - been out for a while. I have got an Amway one. I used to be a distributor (well -still registered actually) but that is not why I am recommending it - I really do think it is fantastic and has more than paid for itself.

It takes all the chlorine out of the water too. DH is a scientist and he reckons everyone should have one, particularly anyone who is immunocompromised for any reason. He doesn't like to spend money, but was very keen to buy it. We just order a replacement filter once a year.

It is all fitted under the sink and needs no attention except to change the filter.

Yes, TT -- were our children briefly in the same class? Else you are the 3rd other person I know locally also on MN!

Big dingdong with this last year here in Snowdonia as reservoir affected for weeks.I laughed it off..until people I knew got really ill.

We were given £10 per household in compensation I recall.

My dc's had it a couple of years ago and were banned from nursey until they had a clear test - I kept taking samples to hospital to be tested

3littlefrogs-will check that out

lljkk-Yes,my child was in your child's class for a breif time

moondog-That sounds awful.
They are saying the problem should be sorted by the end of the week.
I hope so.

The scientist who rang me back from the water company said the problem arose last thursday/friday and we were told today.
He said the bug takes ahile to bring on symptoms and that there was a lot of stomach bugs around at the moment so was unsure if me feeling ill was due to the water I drank.

eucalyptus-can you remember how long it took for the symptoms to show?

lljkk-just digressing for a moment.

Hope you don't mind me asking but I noticed as I was just checking through my watched threads that you had mentioned on Wallace's thread about a child in your dd's class with selective mutism.

I was interested as was unaware of this and as you may know my son has SM and have never met anyone with a child with SM before.

Sorry, they did not show any symptoms at all - that was mainly why we had to have a negative test.

The nursery had a confirmed case so they tested all the children and ours were positive, but no symptoms. Took at least two weeks before they were clear tho

Most of the others only had symptons for 3 days or so if that helps

Thanks eucalyptus

Just done a quick bit of research on water filters. The amway one clains to remove 99.7%of cysts, but is fairly expensive. There is one called aquasana that also claims to remove 99% of cysts and is cheaper. I guess boiling the filtered water would then kill off any remaining cysts. I will look into it a bit more, and see if I can find the scientific evidence.

Topsy, thought you knew about the other child with SM? He STILL isn't talking at end of Yr1, his mum once said that at least your DS started talking to classmates by end of his reception year. Hers never did. I thought he almost spoke to me once (I help out sometimes), but he didn't, in the end.

It's a shame, because it's obviously hindering his learning; I know the teacher is worried. I reckon he will be in the pretty much the same class for his Yr2, maybe that will help give him confidence.

water bug: apparently it was first detected last Tuesday! But not consistently. And the advice to boil started going out on Friday. Did you see the filtering system they're now using on News last night? About 12 foot by 12 foot big.

Have you sent him back to school? Seems like Each classroom is handling it differnetly, Reception have bottled water only (school provided) and Yr2 are being closely quizzed to make sure their home-brought water bottles only have cooled boiled water in them.

Thanks 3littlefrogs

lljkk-I was aware of the little boy in reception,his name started with an A, when DS spent that first week in reception before I got him a place in year 1.
I remember talking to his mother at the time and suspected SM but did'nt want to say anything in case I was wrong and worried her.
I saw traces of DS in her son.

I did'nt realise he still was'nt talking in class or if he had been diagnosed with SM.

My DS did'nt start talking to classmates at the end of reception and has not talked in his year 1 class ethier.
He does however talk to me out of class in the school library when we do "sliding in" sessions but is still very wary of other people around us.

I have found the school have a limited of knowledge of SM and it has been a struggle and still is to get them to really understand the condition.
I am still learning about it myself but have found a lot of ignorance surrrounding SM which does'nt help.

Not sure whether to approach his mother at the school and have a chat with her as SM is quite rare and I know I would find it benefical to talk to someone going through the same thing.

DS is still off school today as he was complaining of a stomach pain but was told there was a lot of stomach bugs around at the moment.