A SUPERBUG ruined a Widnes family's Mediterranean dream holiday, they claimed this week.

Mark and Andrea Gregory and their sons, Ben, eight and Jake, four, have just returned from the Alcudia Pins Hotel, hit by the waterborne parasite, cryptosporidiosis.

Their boys were confined to their hotel bedroom with sickness and diarrhoea.

Mark, of Catford Close, Hough Green said: "I was really concerned. We had taken Kaolin and Morphine and Calpol with us so we were treating them ourselves but we couldn't find out what was going on in the hotel.

"My wife was perplexed because she said ambulances were coming morning and night taking people to hospital."

He said they were about to call the doctor when their sons stopped vomiting.

He fears they may still have the bug as they have been very irritable and off their food.

"We will get samples off and get them tested because experts said this bug could be in their system for years if it is not treated.

"We paid £2,300 for this holiday. We're more upset because the children haven't enjoyed it."

An Airtours Holiday spokesperson, said: "As soon as we were alerted to the possibility of cryptosporidiosis, we took immediate action to protect more than 2,000 people staying at the hotel. We instructed the hotel to empty the pool, disinfect it and send samples for specialist analysis. The pool will remain closed until it is safe to reopen."

Airtours said on Tuesday there were 12 confirmed cases and the pool was the source of the bug.