NEWS Shopper readers have come forward to shed light on the mysterious outbreak of abscesses which have baffled residents in a block of flats.

Last week we reported how 10 people in Cotmandene Crescent, St Paul's Cray, had suffered from the painful sores, with the most serious cases requiring operations.

Tracey Moore's five daughters had all been affected, including Bethany, four, who had one removed from her right buttock four months ago after it swelled to twice its normal size.

Doctors at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, and the Broomwood Road Surgery, St Paul's Cray, where the family were treated, do not know what is causing it.

Bromley Council is sending a pollution control expert to the flat but says the problem will likely be due to a medical reason.

Another resident on the Ramsden estate says his 18-month-old daughter got an abscess on her bottom four months ago.

And the family living next door to him, who had just moved from Cotmandene Crescent, have also had them.

They thought it was rabbit fleas but doctors at the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough, told his neighbour it was bugs under the skin.

He added: "It seems to be babies who get it, maybe because they're crawling around and get little nicks where the abscesses can form."

A Kent resident, who used to live in Sidcup, suffered abscesses 10 years ago.

The mother-of-two got them on her right thigh, chest, cheek and in between her eyes.

She said: "The last one was the worst. I had to wrap a scarf around my head because my face was so swollen."

She used nasal ointment to cure them and was left with holes she could stick the tip of a cotton bud into, which later became scars.

Her Sidcup doctor said it was a streptococcus infection caused bybacteria found on the inside tip of the nose.

They spread through the body because of an enzyme which increases the ease with which the bacteria passes through the skin.

Do you have any theories on the outbreak? Call our newsdesk on 01689 885716.