Child contracts rare disease after swimming in river

A child is 'very poorly' from a rare infection caught after going swimming in a river, a council has said.

Dedham Parish Council in Essex said the local student contracted Weil's disease and had "suffered a severe infection after swimming in the River Stour at Dedham". In a letter published on its website, the authority said it was a "confirmed case of Weil's disease (leptospirosis) which can be very serious".

The disease is spread in the urine of infected animals, most commonly rats, mice, cows, pigs and dogs. People can contract Weil's disease if soil or freshwater, such as water from a river, that contains infected urine gets in their mouth, eyes or a cut.

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Most people who get Weil's disease have no symptoms or mild flu-like symptoms, but some people get seriously ill, according to the NHS. Symptoms may include high temperature, headache, body aches and pain, stomach ache, feeling or being sick, diarrhoea, redness in the white part of your eyes and yellowing of the skin or white part of the eyes.

People who may have been exposed to infected urine and are displaying symptoms are advised to see a GP. The River Stour straddles the Suffolk and Essex border and has been painted by the artists John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough.

Dedham Parish Council said the Environment Agency is undertaking monitoring in the river at Dedham. The Environment Agency has been approached for comment.

The parish council added that local environmental group Pace (Practical Actions for Climate and the Environment) Manningtree is "investigating the impact of untreated sewage released into the river by the sewage works at Dedham".

The case comes amid