Families fear for kids as number of E.coli cases connected to Calgary daycares jumps to 128
CTV
A food poisoning spate connected to 11 Calgary-area daycares is believed by some to be the largest serious E. coli outbreak of children under the age of five ever reported.
A food poisoning spate connected to 11 Calgary-area daycares is believed by some to be the largest serious E. coli outbreak of children under the age of five ever reported.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) says 128 cases have been confirmed as of Thursday morning, with 25 in hospital and three who've been discharged from hospital.
"This may be the largest outbreak of this specific type of Shiga-toxin E. coli in children under five years of age reported," said Dr. Stephen Freedman, a Cumming School of Medicine professor of pediatrics who studies E. coli.
Timing is critical. Young children are considered high-risk of developing a serious condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) up to 10 days after symptoms begin.
"The kidney is the most commonly affected organ but it can affect almost any organ in the body, including the brain, the heart, the liver, the pancreas," Freedman said.
"So until the last child exposed is out of the at-risk window, which is about 10 days after the onset of their symptoms, then we will continue to worry that we will see children who have seen significant disease."
Nine patients have confirmed cases of HUS.
