More than 110 people have been struck down by gastroenteritis in the Darfield area after drinking contaminated water.

The notifications come one week after the Selwyn District Council issued a boil-water notice after E. coli was found in some parts of the Waimakariri River.

Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) medical officer of health Alistair Humphrey today said six cases had been confirmed as campylobacter.

Yesterday, there had been 19 notifications. Today, there had been more than 110.

”It’s a pretty big increase and it’s a fairly major waterborne outbreak,” Humphrey said.

He said all notifications had come from the Darfield Medical Centre and the outbreak was ”highly concentrated” in and around the township.

The water supply was the ”main suspect.”

”Children who are only a few months old up to people in their 70s and 80s have been affected.”