A three-year-old girl, Ivy Foster, has been hospitalised repeatedly after contracting E.coli while paddleboarding with her mother at Christchurch Harbour in Dorset in August. Dirty seawater is believed to have entered her body through an open wound on her foot, and she has since developed an antibiotic-resistant infection that has spread to her right kidney, requiring isolation for infection control. The case has drawn attention to persistent pollution concerns at the harbour, which is fed by two rivers passing agricultural land, building sites and sewage treatment works.

Ivy's mother, Kimberley Foster, 34, said her daughter has been rushed to hospital three times since the initial incident, suffering vomiting, abdominal pain, high temperatures and, at one stage, fears for her life. Doctors have identified an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase infection, which can be life-threatening if it spreads to the lungs or bloodstream. A second child was separately hospitalised with campylobacter after swimming nearby at Avon Beach. The Environment Agency said E.coli levels at the harbour were "within the range expected" and it had not traced a source, while Wessex Water denied its operations were linked to the readings.