I read this story yesterday and the prejudiced comments it produced about Tunisia in general. It seems there were complaints from other guests claiming to be ill from the food in the hotel, but strangely he was the only one who got cholera. He also says they ate out at times so could have caught it anywhere.

I can only say that I've been to Tunisia many times, stayed in hotels from 2* to 4*, eaten in cafes and restaurants of all categories, as well as roadside stalls in various places including the medina at Sousse and in Sfax and had meals with locals in their homes, including one of the cave houses at Matmata, and never once had any problems. The only time I've suffered from Montezuma's Revenge was in Hamilton Island, Australia, many years ago.

No doubt a shedload of compensation from Thomas Cook will make him feel a lot better, but I don't see how they can automatically be held responsible unless it is proved that the hotel was at fault. This begs the question that if it was the fault of the hotel, how is it that nobody else got cholera?

I've just looked into this a little further and it makes interesting reading: It appears a Tunisian Television company, TunisieNumérique, contacted the management of the hotel and spoke to the CEO, Riadh Agoun, to get some clarification.

It seems that this tourist stayed in the hotel from 20 September to 2 October 2013. At that time the hotel had 500 guests including 150 English. and no one complained of any type of gastroenteritis illness. In addition, Mr Agoun said that the hotel is doubly certified to international standards with certification iso 9001 and iso 22000. On another level, the hotel is under the control of a British company "Checksafetyfirst" who specialise in health checks in hotels, and perform unannounced visits and sampling and they had never identified failures in the conditions of the Sol Azur.

Moreover, the story of this Cholera diagnosed in Britain after returning from vacation seems a little bit far-fetched, since he was the only one who apparently caught this bacteria, and there were no cases of cholera in Hammamet, or elsewhere in the surrounding areas being recorded at that time.

What puzzles me and many other regular visitors is why this story has surfaced now, just as the tourist season is getting underway in Tunisia, when it relates to an incident alleged to have taken place last September. Having a somewhat cynical nature I can't help wondering whether the chance to earn some money for the story, from a paper which is not known for its impartiality towards certain parts of the world and not always scrupulous in checking its sources, might have tempted the man, particularly as it seems Thomas Cook may not be held legally liable for his misfortune.

As you say, Aslemma, Cholera is not an illness that only strikes down one person at a time. We talk of Cholera outbreaks for good reason - it is extremely rare for isolated cases to emerge. Once the water supply becomes infected, usually because faeces from an infected person have contaminated the drinking water supply, it spreads like wildfire through the population. The outbreak in Haiti following the hurricane and which probably started due to poor hygiene practices at the camp housing Nepali soldiers aiding the relief effort is a classic example of how the disease spreads.

The usual primary source of transmission is contamination of the drinking water supply. If people do catch it from food then it is because contaminated water was used in its preparation. The only sure way of containing an outbreak is to identify the contaminated water supply and do something about that. That is how Cholera was eradicated from this country and especially London. Cholera disappeared in this country once sewage was kept apart from the drinking water and the wells which had previously been the main source of contagion were prevented from becoming contaminated with raw sewage entering the water table.

I know that this is the really nerdy sociologist in me coming out but life expectancy rates doubled within 30 years in the mid-1800s not because of improvements in medical science but because we built proper sewer systems in our big cities and Cholera and other waterborne diseases like Typhoid etc were no longer the scourge they once were. It wasn't until the advent of antibiotics in the mid-1900s that we saw a remotely comparable jump in average life expectancy rates.

But back to your original point, Aslemma, a single, isolated case of Cholera is almost unknown and suggests that there is more to this story than outlined in the news report linked to above. Either it wasn't Cholera that he had or the Tunisian authorities and the TOs etc have managed to put in place a huge cover-up to conceal lots of other cases, which I would very much doubt was possible in this age of social media etc.

SM

In the old days of Ben Ali a great deal was covered up in Tunisia but this is much rarer now that everyone has access to social media etc. so I think we can be reasonably certain that there were no other known cases of cholera in the area, or indeed in any other part of Tunisia. Which obviously raises the questions if it was cholera where did he catch it, and if it wasn't, then what was it? I will certainly do my best to keep up to date with the story, from local sources if it turns out to be a Daily Mail 'shock horror' five-minute wonder in the UK.

It's also been reported on the BBC :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-27219281

I have to admit to believing that cholera cases would be treated extremely seriously and that this man would have been isolated. And yet there were 12 cases in England in 2012. You learn something new every day!

There is usually an average of 10 cases per year in the UK - always contracted abroad by travellers and most commonly amongst aid workers. In this country, Fiona, there isn't really the need to put patients into isolation or quarantine as long as good sanitation and hygiene practices are in place because person to person transmission is extremely rare.

SM

I could understand aid workers being in danger.
If he did catch this in Tunisia- wouldn't there be some sort of uproar or major investigation? Surely it's not all down to a holiday firm being sued? It is pretty scarey if it is confirmed he has had cholera.

I saw this in another newspaper, and read it with dismayed interest. Although it's been a few years now since I was last in Tunisia, I have been many times and usually stayed in Hammamet. I've had gastroentiritis once- and there's no way I could confirm whether or not this was from the hotel I stayed at - though I suspect not. I've stayed at the Azur complex (Royal, Sol, Bel) 7 or 8 times, including 2 or 3 times at the Sol.I never became ill as a result of the hotels, nor do I recall any other serious cases of illness. Of course, things can change in a few years, but since my stays there spanned a period of 8 years, I'm sceptical, particularly with something like cholera, which as SMa has pointed out, is usually linked to an outbreak.

When travelling I generally check what vaccinations are needed. A cholera vaccination was only recommended for Tunisia if there has been an outbreak, which doesn't seem to apply here. I haven't checked but it would be interesting to see if this is now recommended following this story... You would think if there were one case from a hotel that there would be others.

I like the Azur hotels, and I wouldn't let this put me off staying there in the future - but sadly this will likely not be the case for the many who haven't had past experience of staying there.