Girl, 8, infected with dangerous bacteria after swallowing sea water

An eight-year-old girl had to be rushed to hospital after she was infected with dangerous bacteria during a family trip to the beach.

Keeva Hollow was swimming with her twin sister at Dorset’s Avon Beach when she was hit by a wave and swallowed sea water.

The next day she was lethargic, with a high temperature and no appetite, and her mum realised something was wrong.

Aisling Mccarthy said: ‘It has been a terrible time; Keeva was so ill. She used to swim all the time, a real water baby. But now I can’t see her ever going in the sea again; she is so scared of becoming sick again.’

‘To be honest, I don’t want her going back into it anyway until I know it is totally safe.’

Aisling had taken Keeva and her twin sister Cornelia to Avon Beach on August 3.

‘I was watching the girls swim when I saw a wave hit Keeva and she started spluttering,’ she said. ‘She came out and said she had swallowed a lot of water. Cornelia had not at all, and I didn’t worry too much at the time.

‘But the next morning Keeva would not eat her breakfast. We were going to London, and she slept the whole journey. Her temperature was going up, and she just was not herself.

‘We were supposed to be going to Ireland to see my mother who was ill. But the next morning Keeva would not get out of bed, and her temperature was really high.

‘She had declined really fast. I found an out-of-hours doctor and took her to him. He asked for a urine sample; by then Keeva had really bad diarrhoea and I noticed there was blood in it.’

‘I had seen a documentary about sewage pollution in water, and I realised that Keeva’s symptoms were similar to those of a girl who died from polluted seawater. I told the doctor I was taking her to A&E and rushed there.

‘Keeva was put on a drip while tests were carried out. She was so ill by then, she had deteriorated so quickly it was frightening.’

Keeva spent two days in hospital where she was diagnosed with a campylobacter infection.

Aisling said: ‘The hospital said it can be food poisoning as well but Keeva does not eat meat which is one of the main sources of that bacteria.

‘Her illness happened straight after the sea-swallowing incident at Avon Beach, and Cornelia has not been ill at all.

‘I have a very clear memory of that moment when the wave hit Keeva, seeing her spluttering from swallowing the water. I am convinced that was what caused her to become so ill.’

Aisling says Keeva is still not back to full health. ‘She was always a very sporty girl but she now gets out of breath quickly. She used to keep up with me on a 5km run, but now she struggles to do 1km,’ she added.

‘She has lost a ton of weight, and her clothes are hanging off her. But the saddest thing is her fear of going into the sea.’

Aisling contacted Wessex Water, which manages wastewater and environmental protection for the River Stour, notifying them about Keeva and asking for any information on recent sewage leakages. But she has not received a reply yet.

BCP Council sent a letter to Aisling, having been notified by the hospital of Keeva’s infection.

‘But the letter was all about food poisoning and was asking where Keeva had eaten,’ she said. ‘I replied saying I believed it was seawater, not food, but they claimed they had had no other reports of people becoming ill from swimming in the sea.

‘I was shocked by their attitude because surely, as a huge tourism area due to its beautiful beaches, BCP should be concerned about what has happened to Keeva. But they don’t appear to be.’

‘I want Wessex Water and BCP Council to be completely upfront with people and tell us if the water is safe.

‘I am very angry, it was awful to see my child suffering and I don’t want anyone else to become ill. I have lost my trust in the people responsible for our sea and waterways.’

Recent tests of the River Stour, which flows into the sea at Christchurch, showed ‘extremely unsafe’ levels of E. coli.

Martin Stewart, managing director of Stewarts Garden centers and chair of the Christchurch Harbour & Marine Society, said testing on August 19 showed E.coli levels of 300,000 – the safe bathing level is 1,000.

He also found several other ‘concerning’ levels of bacteria in his samples.
Aisling says her family’s idyllic life of living by the ocean has now been shattered.

‘My husband is from this area and has always loved the sea,’ she explained. ‘We moved here from London to be by the ocean a week after the twins were born.

‘We bought a house within walking distance to the beach, and the sea has been our life – but now I’m too scared to let the girls in it.’

Councillor Andy Hadley, BCP Council Cabinet Member for Climate Response, Environment and Energy, has now met with the family and said he was pleased to see that Keeva had recovered.

‘Very many people regularly use local rivers and coastal waters for recreation,’ he said. ‘We encourage everyone to follow public health guidance, which is to avoid swallowing water and to practice good hygiene after water-based activities. 

‘If you see any evidence of pollution in these waters, please contact the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60 as soon as possible to report it. This helps them to investigate the source.

‘If you have been in the water and subsequently feel unwell, you should seek advice from your GP or NHS 111. Where appropriate, healthcare professionals may request further testing to help identify the cause of illness.

‘We cannot comment on individual cases, but it is very difficult to trace back the cause of infection. We have had no notification from the UKHSA of other cases.’

Councillor Andy Hadley, BCP Council Cabinet Member for Climate Response, Environment and Energy, said:  “I did meet the family last night, and I’m pleased that Keeva has recovered from her illness.

‘Very many people regularly use local rivers and coastal waters for recreation,’ he said. ‘We encourage everyone to follow public health guidance, which is to avoid swallowing water and to practice good hygiene after water-based activities. 

‘If you see any evidence of pollution in these waters, please contact the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60 as soon as possible to report it. This helps them to investigate the source.

‘If you have been in the water and subsequently feel unwell, you should seek advice from your GP or NHS 111. Where appropriate, healthcare professionals may request further testing to help identify the cause of illness.

‘We cannot comment on individual cases, but it is very difficult to trace back the cause of infection. We have had no notification from the UKHSA of other cases.’