Dream holiday turns into sickness bug nightmare for Blackpool couple

Nathan Gordon and his girlfriend Hollie Davidson, 22, paid out £3,200 for the ‘holiday of a lifetime; at the luxury Thomson Sensatori Resort Azul Mexico but ended up living a nightmare.

The resort area of Riveria Maya near Cancun was the scene of a previous outbreak of mass sickness last year in which more than 200 Brits were diagnosed with bug Cyclospora.

There was also another outbreak the year before in 2015 which affected 79 Brits.

Now there has been a third outbreak of illness in three years among holidaying Brits.

The sickness bug is spread by infected human waste contaminating water or food and has been linked to fresh soft fruits like raspberries and salad products like basil or lettuce or mint.

Nathan, 26, from South Shore, said “It was the worst holiday ever and the only one where we wanted to come home early.

“We have been so ill. But it wasn’t just us loads of people have had the same thing. You go on holiday to relax and have a break from reality but we spent half the time being sick in our room.”

The couple began noticing the illness as he said one by one people they made friends with around the pool would disappear only to be holed up in their rooms with sickness.

Nathan said: “People were dropping like flies. One day there would be a couple, then just the partner and then nobody the following day.

“The same thing would happen with families. We would ring their room to see what happened and they would all say they were very sick.”

Both Nathan and Hollie at first put their illnesses down to the climate.

But then the couple both fell very ill and came down with uncontrollable shivering despite the heat.

He said: “It was almost comical. We both had really high temperatures but we were shivering so much as well.

“We had to keep having cold showers and baths to try to bring our temperatures down. I had to keep putting flannels in the fridge and then put them on our heads.

“I had a runny nose and flu like symptoms and it was 36 degrees outside!”

He said they then came down with the sickness and diarrhoea for several days during which they were mostly holed up in their room – apart from a trip to see the rep to complain.

He said: “We couldn’t eat anything for days. Luckily I had spoken to others who were ill before us so we didn’t waste £120 going to see the onsite doctor and £140 for a prescription asthey were only giving the same medicine equivalents that we had brought with us.

“I complained to the reps and they logged it on their computer. But I didn’t get a print out.”

They then returned home and went to see their GP who told them they had cyclospora.

Since they returned home from Mexico earlier this month they have had to take time off work.

A Thomson spokesman said: “We are sorry to hear of these reports. We are working with our relevant partners in Mexico to investigate further.

“We always encourage customers to follow guidance from official health bodies such as the NHS and NaTHNaC, which have up-to-date advice on staying safe and healthy abroad.

“We are investigating this as a priority and we’ll be contacting the customer directly to discuss this and the other points they’ve raised.”