'We're more worried about finding things like floating waste or syringes'

As the sun beat down on a placid sea yesterday there was no sign of impending panic on Brighton beach.

Even before 9am, keen sun-seekers were already unfurling their towels and wriggling into their swimming costumes beside the city's main pier as the cool blue water lapped the pebbles at their feet.

Robert and Emily Geraghty had arrived early from Coulsdon, Surrey, with Kieron, six, and Bobbi, three, in an effort to beat the crowds. They weren't about to let talk of any weird and wonderful marine diseases dampen their spirits. Mr Geraghty, 28, said: "As long as the kids have got their injections they should be all right, shouldn't they? I would have thought you would have more of a chance of catching these things abroad."

Mrs Geraghty seemed slightly less certain. "So long as they don't put anything in their mouths I'm not too worried," she said, glancing protectively at Bobbi as she darted back towards the sea.

"To be honest, we're more worried about finding things floating in the sea like discarded rubbish or syringes, but it's a question of using your common sense, isn't it?"

Gavin Aheal, a 29-year-old recruitment manager from Glynde, near Lewes, was also happy to chance it.

"I used to be a surfer so you hear about these things all the time," he said. "After a while, you don't tend to think about them. You can panic about things too much."

His partner Chris Cashley, 27, a teacher, said the dangers of man-made pollution were still more worrying. She said: "You've just got to do your bit to look after things."

Emerging from her regular early-morning dip, local writer and photographer Jenni Sharpstone, 59, was equally philosophical.

"I thought they inoculated you against things like TB at school," she said. "Seriously, there's a report I was reading the other day that suggested that eating cereal was bad for you. If you were to take all these things at face value, you'd just shut yourself in your room.

"You could worry about getting run over crossing the street, but you just can't live like that."

Ms Sharpstone, whose books include a guide called 'You Can Get It In Brighton', added: "I'm not convinced you can get these things [the diseases] here. You can get a lot of other things though."