Shigella Outbreak at Resort - All Inclusive, La Romana La Altagracia

La Romana, 23000 La Altagracia, Dominican Republic

Holiday turned into a nightmare as I have came home with a rare infectious disease, shigella, from the resorts uncleanliness. I arrived to Dominican on 14th October to start with everything was fine, had a lot to eat and drink at the Hilton La Romana All Inclusive Resort. It wasn’t till the 18th October, the day of my aunties wedding I fell very unwell. I had sore head, body pain and overall felt very sick. I tried to push through as i was a bridesmaid for my aunties big day, however, I felt very lights headed and almost passed out numerous occasion’s. I had to sit in the sand as my family rushed to get me some fans and some water and make sure I was okay. No staff helped or came to see if I was alright. I then had to leave the wedding thorough out to go to the room to take some painkillers and lay down. I wasn’t able to eat or concentrate and kept going to the bathroom. It was very upsetting that I missed most of the wedding as it was the full reason for going on the holiday in the first place! I then had to head to my room early where I then stayed there for the next 3 days of my holiday as the illness became worse. I wasn’t able to leave my bed, eat or drink. I was getting extreme pains in my stomach going to the bathroom over 20 times in a day with blood and with more extreme pains causing me to cry and high fever, nothing I have experienced before. As it came to the day to come home I struggled a lot and Was in constant pain for the full 2 flights, over 20 hours of travelling. At this point I had not been able to eat or drink at all and started to think it wasn’t just a bug. Soon as I returned home I went to my doctors , 23rd October, and they did a lot of tests and even was concerned where they had to send me to infectious diseases hospital and almost had me admitted for fluids as I was dehydrated. I later find out that I have a rare infectious disease called shigella which is a type of food poisoning from either contaminated foods, unwashed fruit and veg, or person handling food in unclean. I had to go 16 days in complete pain, not drinking or eating, not leaving my bed, missed out on a festival that I paid around £160 on which I was devastated. missed out in my social life and work life. I have felt completely drained, depressed and very upset and pretty angry about all this and this will forever scare me from holidays abroad again! The only place I could have gotten this from was the resorts food or drink as it wasn’t just myself that this happened to but also other family members that we met up with in Dominican! Im very disappointed and disgusted in this as this was booked as a 5 star Hilton hotel and I’ve came home extremely unwell! This is still ongoing and has really affected my mental health as I have not left my bed since returning to the uk, I’ve had numerous called from the public healthcare asking details about my whereabouts, what I’ve ate and drank as this is not common in the uk and has had to get in contact with my work as I am not allowed to go as the pubic healthcare won’t allow me to until this has cleared! They replied and are trying to say I judge as unwell for other reasons when I have hospital proof and public health looking into it
. In report food and drink is what caused this, never left the resort at all  | Symptoms: Nausea, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Stomach Pain, Fever, Cramps, Headache, Disease, Lightheaded, Body Ache, Soreness