UK waterways, many popular with wild swimmers, are riddled with nasty life-threatening bugs, campaigners argue.
Despite 27 new wild swimming river spots being recently added to the list of coastal and inland waterways deemed safe to swim in across the UK, activists have accused many of these sites are far from safe and are teeming with deadly diseases.
In order for a swimming spot to make the list, local environment agencies must monitor the water for contamination.
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However, campaigners argue these sites are only tested for dangerous bugs between May and September, leaving winter swimmers at risk of getting crook.
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They also claim waterways are only tested for two types of bacteria, E. Coli and enterococci, so other pathogens may go undetected, reports MailOnline.
E.Coli can lead to stomach bugs, while enterococci can lead to urinary tract infections, as well as infections in the lining of the heart and gums.
James Wallace, from pressure group River Action, said: “The dreadful quality of Britain’s waterways is an international embarrassment”.
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This comes as one wild swimmer revealed how she’s picked up bugs from swimming around the Thames between Henley-on-Thames and Marlow, which have floored her.
Laura Reineke said she was “knocked sideways by the ferocity” of the bug she caught three time after swimming in the popular spot.
“Why should we have to choose between healthy enjoyment of nature or risking our lives?”
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The 51-year-old said: “My joints started aching, as if I was coming down with the flu. Suddenly, I felt really poorly, I could feel my bowels quicken and I needed to be terribly sick.”
She said she worried the severe diarrhoea and vomiting would never end.
She added: “It went on all night, violent and constant. I wanted to sleep but had to keep rushing to the bathroom… I had to stay in bed for two days.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Among the bugs waterways aren’t tested for, bacterial infection leptospirosis is of particular concern. Nine UK deaths have been recorded between 2006 and 2010 from the illness, which is spread through rat urine and triggers a condition called Weil’s disease, while 122 people were diagnosed with the infection last year – double 2010 figures.
Waterways are also not tested for a typhoid-triggering strain of salmonella.
Many wild swimming spots have high levels of sewage pollution as well, which adds the risk of further infections to the list.
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