Alert over bottled water

Bottled water may be causing thousands of cases of food poisoning. Experts estimate that contaminated water could account for more than one in 10 infections.

The bug involved, campylobacter, is the biggest cause of food-borne sickness in the western world. A new study is the first to link the billionpound bottled water industry with the steep rise in campylobacter cases in recent years.

Campylobacter infects about 50,000 people a year in England and Wales, far more than better-known organisms such as salmonella. Yet until the mid-Seventies it was virtually unheard of.

Experts are warning of major public health implications. "The increased illness from contamination of bottled water could be considerable," said epidemiologist Dr Meirion Evans.

"Drinking bottled water has not previously been recognised as a risk factor. But it is biologically plausible and could explain a substantial number of infections."

Campylobacter causes stomach pains and diarrhoea. But one in 1,000 sufferers develops Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can lead to total paralysis. One in 20,000 dies.

Most cases had been linked with eating undercooked chicken, or uncooked foods contaminated by raw chicken.

Scientists from the University of Wales in Cardiff investigated more than 200 cases of food poisoning.

The results, in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, reveal that up to 12 per cent of cases could be attributed to bottled water, 30 per cent to contaminated chicken and 21 per cent to salad.

The Natural Mineral Water Service said bottlers already test for campylobacter, adding that the study had failed to differentiate between mineral water from underground and spring water, which could be polluted by agricultural waste.