Outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease at Majorca hotel as Brit toddler, 2, is covered in blisters days after another baby struck down
Brit dad Gareth Garmson, 34, has spoken of his horror after his son Curtis caught hand, foot and mouth disease two days into their dream family holiday
A BRIT holidaymaker has hit out at Jet2 after his two-year-old son contracted hand, foot and mouth disease while staying at a Majorca hotel suffering an outbreak.
Gareth Garmson, 34, spoke of his horror at discovering his son Curtis covered with blisters and a rash after catching the bug just a few days into their dream holiday.
Gareth, from Birmingham, booked his stay at the Club Mac hotel in Alcudia, Majorca, through Jet2 - but says he's received no help whatsoever.
He told The Sun Online: "We arrived on 18th September, and Curtis started showing symptoms on the 22nd. He had a rash - we thought it was a heat rash at first - and loads of blisters on the inside mouth.
"We went to the doctors and got medication, but we have to keep going back. It's the third day now and it's just gradually getting worse."
Gareth shared photos of Curtis' rashes - they show blisters spread across the poor youngster's, legs, back, neck and arms.
He claims the illness has ruined the trip which was supposed to by a relaxing 10-day break with his girlfriend Anna and four kids.
He said: "We have to keep going back to doctors for medication. We're going back tomorrow. We won't be able to fly home if it gets any worse. We won't know if we can fly until the day before we go home.
"They're not saying to anyone (about disease warning) The doctor told us it takes two weeks to get infected, when actually it only takes between three and five days."
"There's been no effort to apologise. My son isn't allowed in the pools. He's been screaming for two days. I've had to spend my own money so we can do something outside of the hotel. It's another six days of not being able to do anything.
"I know at least twenty kids, and ten families who have been affected by this.
"The hotel was recommended by a friend. The hotel is beautiful - if it wasn't for this, the holiday would have been wicked."
Gareth said he spoke to Jet2 rep at the hotel - but they replied that there's nothing they can do about it until he goes home.
He added: "I want compensation. We can't do anything. We have to let them know whenever we want to go for dinner, and when we do, they put us in a corner.
"I'm concerned for my son. He's not sleeping, he's scratching all the time, and just getting worse."
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A spokesperson for Jet2 said: "We are aware of a small number of cases of hand-foot-and-mouth at the Club Mac Hotel in Alcudia, and we have briefed our team on how to spot and prevent the spread of the illness.
"We would like to assure our customers that their health and safety is our number one priority, and we work closely with all hotels to ensure that health and safety standards meet the very high requirements that we and our customers expect."
The Sun Online has approached Club Mac for comment.
What is hand-foot-and-mouth disease and who is vulnerable?
Hand-foot-and-mouth disease, or HFMD as it is better known, is caused by a virus.
Symptoms include ulcers, or sores, inside or around the mouth, and a rash or blisters on the hands, feet, legs, or buttocks.
Anyone can get the disease, but children under age 10 are most likely to catch it.
These viruses can spread from person-to-person through direct contact with unwashed hands or surfaces contaminated with bacteria
However, this comes after news that the outbreak started back as far back as May.
Danielle Macintyre, 25, recently told revealed to The Sun Online that at the same hotel.
The care assistant – alongside Nevah, aged three, and five-month-old Milla – jetted off for the seven-night stay at the Spanish resort on September 7.
But just days later, their dream holiday turned into a nightmare when eldest tot Nevah fell horribly ill.
Danielle said: “This was our first family holiday. I was already anxious because the girls are so young, and I was worried how they would cope with the flight and the heat.
“Everything was fine until the fifth day, when Nevah started being violently sick."
And Glasgow mum Zarona Smith, 23, was forced to take her 17-month-old son Carlos to the on-site doctor after he broke out in rashes and blisters.
She said she didn’t find out the real reason her son was sick until they returned home, after he was misdiagnosed by the hotel doctor.
Zarona said: “The doctor told me it was a teething rash, a reaction from the chlorine in the water. Carlos’ skin was on fire, there were blisters all over his body. But we couldn’t do anything.
"We landed at midnight, and went straight to Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital, where we waited five hours to be seen.
"The doctor there told us it was one of the worst cases of hand-foot-and-mouth disease that he’d ever seen."
Jodie McMaster, 28, blasted the conditions at the resort – in particular the hygiene in its restaurants – after 18-month-old daughter Spencer was struck down towards the end of her first holiday.
Just like Zarona, Jodie wasn’t fully aware of the extent of Spencer’s illness until she returned home after a week away on September 15.
It wasn’t until Spencer had to be rushed to an NHS 24 clinic in Easterhouse that the tot was properly diagnosed.
She said: “A few days into the holiday she started to become really unwell. She had a really high temperature, a sore throat and she was being sick. She just wasn’t herself. Just before we were due to come home she broke out in a really aggressive rash.
"I didn’t think much of it. I just thought because it was her first time out in the sun like that, it might have been prickly heat."
She was staying at my mother-in-law’s after we came back. She started being violently sick and couldn’t hold her head up."
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