'Cautious optimism' expressed by Alberta's top doctor amid Calgary E. coli outbreak

Alberta's chief medical officer of health spoke optimistically Tuesday about the ongoing E. coli outbreak in Calgary.

Alberta's chief medical officer of health spoke optimistically Tuesday about the ongoing E. coli outbreak in Calgary.

Dr. Mark Joffe said while "we're still not out of the woods," he is encouraged by falling daily health numbers and a "sustained decrease" in the number of children who require hospital care.

"We're also not seeing any significant spike in secondary cases," Joffe said. "This is a cause for cautious optimism as we move to what we hope will soon be the end of this extremely serious outbreak."

Joffe noted that Tuesday's numbers continue to trend "in the right direction."

As of Sept. 19, there are 348 lab-confirmed cases of E. coli, unchanged from the day before.

No new secondary cases have been confirmed in the past 48 hours, Joffe said.

Currently, eight children are receiving care in hospital, down from nine on Monday. Of the eight, two are receiving dialysis, down from three on Monday.