A pensioner in his 80s has died from a suspected case of cholera at a hospital in the Midlands – believed to be Britain’s first death from the disease in 125 years.
The father-of-two passed away on Tuesday at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
He had fallen ill at his home the previous week after experiencing vomiting and diarrhoea.
After his condition worsened, he was taken to hospital and placed in immediate isolation.
Medical staff had believed through testing that he had contracted the waterborne bacterial infection, which claimed tens of thousands of lives during the Victorian period.
If so, it would have marked the first time a British person had died of cholera since December 1901.
The UK Health Security Agency later confirmed that the pensioner contracted a type of bacteria called Non-toxigenic Vibrio cholerae.
His relatives initially believed he was suffering from norovirus when symptoms first appeared.
The father-of-two passed away on Tuesday at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton (pictured)
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They kept watch over his condition before contacting 111 as he grew increasingly unwell.
Emergency services were dispatched and transported him urgently to hospital.
Following a battery of tests, doctors informed the family he had cholera.
A source close to the family said: “They have no idea how he caught it. They were asked by doctors if he’d been abroad recently, but he hadn’t. He lived at home with his youngest son.”
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The disease attacked his kidneys and liver, and by the weekend medical staff said nothing further could be done.
“His eldest was allowed to be in the room with him in full PPE as his life ebbed away,” the source told The Sun.
The source added: “The family are naturally devastated. They were told the clothes he had arrived in would have to be incinerated.”
Cholera spreads primarily through contaminated food and water, causing between 1.3 and 4 million infections globally each year.
The illness is responsible for up to 143,000 deaths annually, with cases concentrated mainly in Africa and Asia.
Cholera is often mild or without symptoms, but can sometimes be severe and life-threatening
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Outbreaks have been rising in Chad, the Republic of Congo and Sudan.
Health experts were last night urgently examining the victim’s test samples amid concerns the result could be a false positive.
The UK Health Security Agency had indicated a sample of the disease may have contained one of two types of cholerae bacteria, only one of which causes cholera.
Approximately 80 per cent of cholera cases respond successfully to oral rehydration treatment.