Woman contracted rare life-threatening condition after swimming in sea near sewage
A woman ended up in hospital after going for a swim off the Welsh coast.
Caitlin Edwards, 22, had been on a bank holiday trip to Pembrokeshire with her mum, and had decided to go for a swim in the sea while on the trip on 24 August last year.
But Caitlin ended up undergoing an horrific ordeal, being rushed to hospital after contracting a rare and life-threatening condition while swimming in the sea, describing her experience as 'absolutely horrendous'.
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The 22-year-old had inadvertently swum near a patch of sewage that had been spewed out into the water. She subsequently contracted E Coli, which led to a rare and life-threatening condition called haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS).
This is a rare kidney condition, which can lead to kidney failure, and in severe cases can even impact the brain, heart, gut, liver, and pancreas.
Caitlin ended up requiring multiple blood transfusions, and kidney dialysis during her five-month-long recovery period.
Her mum Jayne Etherington was furious that sewage had been allowed to leak into the sea near to where they had both gone for a swim at Wiseman's Bridge.
The mother and daughter were later led to believe that the sewage had been the result of a spill from Welsh Water Combined Storm Overflows.
Jayne told WalesOnline: “We were allowed to believe it was a CSO spill. No-one said: 'This is something more serious.'”
Public Health Wales subsequently carried out a full investigation into everything that Caitlin had eaten and drank in the days leading up to her becoming ill. The investigation found that the most likely cause of her sickness had been untreated sewage which had contaminated the sea water.
Welsh Water confirmed that this spill in particular had not come from one of their plants. Meanwhile, the county council said that it had placed signs on the beach "acting on information received regarding a pollution incident from Natural Resources Wales".
Nicola Mills, the environment lead for Natural Resources Wales, confirmed that the spill had been due to a 'private discharge point failure'.
She added: “The owners of the private discharge point acted immediately to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Our officers have visited the area since and there have been no further concerns witnessed or reported.
"Around the same time there was also an ongoing CSO discharge therefore it was not possible to pinpoint sole responsibility for the failure of bathing water sampling at Wiseman’s Bridge."
Samples drawn from Wiseman's Bridge on the same day returned a failure in bathing water quality.
Jayne has also urged anyone who became ill around the same time and area to get in touch, with there being numerous anecdotal reports of others becoming ill after swimming there.
Caitlin has since made a full recovery.
Kit Roberts