 A MOTHER-of-two still suffering the effects of a cryptosporidium outbreak eight years ago last night said authorities should have learned from past mistakes. More than 340 people were struck down by the water bug in Hertfordshire and North London in early 1997. One woman who claimed to be still suffering years after the outbreak told the Daily Post public health bosses should have told people to boil their water sooner. In March 1997 hundreds of people fell ill around north west London, an area with more than 250,000 residents. Among the sufferers was former Edgware school teacher Hazel Shaw. Hazel, now 59, said: "I was very badly affected. I was in a lot of pain with a lot of stomach cramps. "I lost a lot of weight. "Life never returned to normal. I was going to the toilet six or seven times a day. It got so bad that my body had forgotten to go to the toilet normally. "At the time it was horrendous. All you can think about is where the next toilet is." Sufferers were handed around £500,000 in compensation by Three Valleys Water, the water company at the source of the 1997 outbreak. | 
