Rise in cases of vomiting bug across UK

THERE has been a recent increase in the nasty vomiting bug Shigella across the UK.

There have been several media reports about the bug, which can lead to chronic diarrhoea, fevers, vomiting and blood in your stool.

A spokeswoman forPublic Health Wales said: “In Wales cases of Shigella up until July of 2018 have been in line with the number of cases we have seen over the last two years (between 0 and three cases per month on average).

“We have seen an increase between July and September (of 40 cases over the three months compared with seven cases in the same period in 2017).”

It is believed that part of this increase is down to people being more aware of the syptoms and reporting them. “It’s important to note that this reflects the situation in England and we believe this to be partly attributable to enhanced surveillance for this infection in England and Wales,” said the spokeswoman.

“This means that we look more closely for cases so are more likely to find them.”

According to Public Health Wales people who have been on holiday are particularly at risk.

The spokeswoman added: “The majority of our Shigella cases in Wales are in people who have travelled to other countries and have come back unwell.”

The amount of cases are now normalising according to Public Health Wales, who said case numbers have dropped since September and said rates for October appear to be in line with expectations for the time of year.

As for all gastrointestinal infections, their advice is that people should be careful about drinking water and eating unwashed fruit when on holiday

“They should be vigilant about handwashing after using the toilet and before preparing food, especially if they are unwell with symptoms of diarrhoea and/ or vomiting in order to reduce the risk of spreading the infection to others,” added the spokeswoman. “Pople who are unwell with diarrhoea and/or vomiting should not return to school or work for 48 hours after their last symptoms.”