Three Australians have come down with gastroenteritis, including Andrew Lauterstein and Hayden Stoeckel who pulled out of their events on Thursday, while at least 10 other swimmers have also been afflicted with a milder form of Delhi belly. English swimmers Fran Halsall and Rebecca Adlington have also been brought down by upset stomachs but have still been able to compete. British media report up to 40 of their teammates have also been hit. ‘‘If there is something unsafe, then you can’t swim in that water,’’ Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell said. ‘‘It’s a matter we have to deal with, with a great deal of urgency.’’

Fennell said that past testing of the pool water had not revealed any problem, but Australian chef de mission Steve Mongeghetti was alarmed by the number of swimmers falling ill. Moneghetti said one other Australian athlete had been hit by gastroenteritis, while at least five other team members from other sports were ill. "There seems to be a larger number of swimmers," Moneghetti told reporters. "It seems quite isolated to the swim team at the moment. "The doctor doesn't think it's food related because it's more confined to one particular sport.

"We're all eating in the dining hall, we're all eating the same food and there's very few cases across the board, it seems like there's more cases in the one sport." Moneghetti said it was possible the pool, or its facilities, could be making the swimmers sick. "At this point in time I would only be speculating but at this point in time it's where the swimmers have come from or what the swimmers are doing," he said. "I don't want to jump to conclusions because we have no medical evidence as to why this is happening." Moneghetti said the water quality at the Dr S.P. Mukerjhee Aquatics Complex has been tested.

"They've done tests ... and our swimmers wouldn't go into the water without the tests coming through," he said. "Head coach Leigh Nugent said the water quality was fine and that's why they're happy to train and compete in the pools." A spokesperson for the England team said just over 30 members of their 550-strong team have been hit by a stomach bug, but would not confirm whether it was across a range of sports or isolated to one. "Around six per cent of our team have been hit. It's a lot lower than expected for this kind of country," the spokesperson told AAP. "But we haven't lost any competition sessions. It's one of those viral thing that arrives and goes in 24 hours."

Loading Moneghetti said Australia's team doctors will liaise with medical staff from other countries and, if there is a widespread problem, the issue will be addressed. AAP