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Chief amongst them is bacteria from human faeces which he said can "increase the risk of significant infections including antibiotic resistant bacteria".

In some West African countries, where the disease is endemic, people usually become infected through exposure to food, or household items contaminated with urine or faeces of rats.

One patient said they "had been left sitting in their own faeces all day because there was no one available to help".

"Somebody came to the grave to visit her, and when they got there, it was just covered in dog faeces, all over the grave," she says.

There have been reports of patients slipping on flooded floors, foul smells of faeces filling A&E and leaks on wards and in the operating theatre areas, posing a risk to patients and staff alike.