Superbugs that lurk in sandpits

CHILDREN are playing in sandpits full of a dangerous superbug, a study found.

More than half of those tested were found to contain C. difficile – a stomach bug that can damage the gut.

The finding is double the rate found in soil in public playgrounds when they were tested in Britain 20 years ago.

Experts said play areas were ‘a reservoir of parasites and infectious bacteria’, especially given that animals frequently defecate in them.

Children are considered most at risk because their immune systems are weaker and they sometimes ingest the sand. The study, published in the journal Zoonoses and Public Health, tested dozens of sandpits in Madrid, with 52.5 per cent containing C. difficile.

Professor Josao Blanco of the Complutense University of Madrid said the number of animals leaving excrement in sandpits posed a ‘serious epidemiological threat’.