Looking to Claim Compensation for your Giardia Holiday Illness?

Giardia lamblia is a well-recognised cause of illness amongst holidaymakers and if you have suffered from Giardiasis at your all-inclusive resort, you can claim compensation for the personal injuries sustained. Our specialist travel lawyers can assist you if your holiday was booked as a regulated package holiday. We can help you claim compensation if you experienced illness or sickness in numerous countries abroad.

Giardia lamblia is the most common gastroenteritis parasite suffered by man in the Western World, and Simpson Millar LLP have helped many claim compensation under 'No Win No Fee' agreements after ruined holidays abroad. It does not matter where in the world you fell ill provided you were on a regulated package holiday with a company such as Thomas Cook, Virgin or Thomson Holidays. Our experience tells us that developing tourist destinations such as Egypt, Tunisia and the Dominican Republic can be prone to this parasite, although tropical destinations can be at risk areas too.

Problems in establishing a laboratory diagnosis, a long incubation period and a tendency not to consider giardia as a possible agent of food poisoning often means many small outbreaks can go undetected.

How did Giardiasis occur?

Tour operators have a responsibility to offer holiday at hotels with strict food and water safety guidelines to reduce the risk of travellers contracting the giardia lamblia bug. Hoteliers should also implement strict personal hygiene regimes and training for all staff, because only a small amount need to be ingested to cause infection.

Through the use of adequate food handling guidelines and preventative measures illness outbreaks can be avoided:

There appears to be no association between infection and the consumption of particular food types. However, fruit and vegetables that are eaten raw can carry the parasite, as it survives in soil contaminated by rodent, bird and other animal faeces.

Has Giardiasis ruined your holiday?

The Giardiasis infection is usually self-limited to a few weeks so it will certainly ruin the remainder of your holiday. In severe infestations antibiotic treatment may be recommended. Metronidazole is the preferred choice of GP’s and hotel doctors in treating the parasite.

Nausea and abdominal pain are often suffered by travellers, although vomiting and the presence of fever are rare. The incubations period is usually one to 3 weeks after the ingestion of contaminated food, so the infection is likely to strike you towards the middle or end of your holiday.

Giardiasis is common on holiday because as many as 15% of people who contract Giardiasis remain asymptomatic which means they may not even be aware they are infected. This means that catering staff, who may live in local towns, where the infrastructure and sanitation is poor, might innocently introduce the bug to the food chain.

Get Free advice today to find out how we can help you make a claim for you Giardia lamblia illness.