Great Britain enjoyed a difficult week in Singapore, winning just five medals and only one gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle.
While illness has caused issues in the camp, Aquatics GB performance director Chris Spice does not want that to be an excuse.
“We don’t try to dwell on that. You only have to look at some of our relay selections in the last couple of days to see some of the people who might have been affected by that,” he told BBC Sport.
“We’re not staying close to other teams, we’ve tried to minimise the risk of transferring anything between teams.
“But of course you’re in a heated environment with people all close to each other. It’s natural that there is going to be some illness around. That’s what it is. We just put our heads down and try and get on with it.”
There has been a lot of change both in the water and behind the scenes for Aquatics GB, something Spice felt contributed to an underwhelming week.
“We’ve had three British records here as opposed to two last year. Underneath the bonnet, things aren’t bad,” he added.
“We think we’ve got the best crop of juniors we’ve had in the last four or five years. Hopefully as we get towards LA [2028 Olympic Games], those two things will come together and the results will start to come.
“We’ve got a very young team, we’ve got eight people here at their first World Championships. There are a lot of newbies, there is a lot of learning going on.
“There were missed opportunities this week, we left two or three medals on the table.
“We’ve got a new head coach, a new team manager. The head of sports science and medicine has gone across to diving. We’re all learning about each other and need time to bed in.”