AN 11-year-old victim of New-port's typhoid outbreak was hospitalised with the disease for a second time, the Argus can reveal.

After apparently making a full recovery, the boy collapsed into his father's arms and spent another 18 days in hospital battling the disease.

Now, four days after his second release from hospital, the boy's parents have broken their silence on their son's ordeal for the first time.

We revealed on Saturday how they and two other families from Pill affected by the outbreak - there were five victims in all - are seeking legal advice about getting access to the report of an investigation into the source.

The investigation was led by Newport council in conjunction with Gwent Health Auth-ority and the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (Wales) - but the outcome has not been made public.

The father of the 11-year-old victim said he is speaking out because he wants people to know how serious typhoid is and says he is fed up with not getting answers from the council.

He told the Argus: "Typhoid is a killer. You can't be shutting a case when it's a killer disease.

"We want to know why our son nearly died. It wasn't that they were just ill, they were dying."

The man said he did not want his family named for fear of his son being hassled when he returns to school next week.

He said that when his son first became ill with typhoid he was kept at the Royal Gwent Hospital for 18 days.

"I stayed there 24 hours a day for 16 days. That's how worrying this disease is. He was hallucinating for nine days bec-ause he wasn't sleeping bec-ause of his temperature. "His body temperature was 40 to 41 degrees, but he was freezing to touch.

"When he came out he was two stone lighter and he just wasn't himself. "He was like a bag of bones and couldn't get himself motivated.

"He started High School and was there two days, but on the second day he came home and fell in my arms. He had a high temperature and a bad head.

"We took him to the hospital for a blood test, but they rushed him to the ward and isolated him again straight away."

The boy stayed in hospital for another 18 days. His father said: "He had an untold number of blood tests and even had a full body scan. This is what we've been through.

"Every test was coming back negative but eventually they found there was a bit of typhoid left.

"It can stay in the body for a year, but his chances of having another relapse now are down to five per cent."

The father-of-three said he was waiting to find out if their solicitor was able to get a copy of the report.

"This is the only route we can take to get answers," he said. "We have been kept in the dark all round."

A spokeswoman for Newport council said they were not aware of any action being taken by the families and did not want to comment further.