Tim Klingender, co-owner of Gilmour Pharmacy in Havelock North, pictured in August 2016, opened especially on a Sunday after a gastro outbreak hit the town. Photo / Duncan Brown
It has been described as the worst outbreak of a waterborne disease in recent New Zealand history, with almost 40% of a North Island town’s resident population struck by gastro.
The cause was identified as the contamination of the town’s drinking water supply with sheep faeces after heavy rainfall.
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The findings have been revealed in the New Zealand Medical Journal today in an article titled “Insights into a large waterborne campylobacter outbreak from a cross-sectional telephone survey”.
