Secondary cases of E. coli grow in aftermath of Calgary outbreak: Alberta Health Services

There are now 348 lab-confirmed cases of E. coli in the city following an outbreak at Calgary daycares, Alberta Health Services said in an update Monday. 

That figure includes 27 lab-confirmed secondary cases, which is an increase of four since Saturday, said the emailed statement from the provincial health body. 

This comes after an outbreak of the shiga toxin-producing E. coli, which can cause serious issues. The outbreak has sent children to hospital and some are on dialysis after developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, a disease which affects the kidneys.

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Health officials have said it's likely the source of the outbreak is linked to a shared kitchen that provided food to a number of daycares, but the cause of the outbreak has not been identified. 

There are nine patients receiving care in hospital, which is down from 12 on Saturday. All these patients have hemolytic uremic syndrome. Three patients are on dialysis, AHS said. 

"Patients with more severe illness are in stable condition and responding to treatment. Our frontline health-care teams continue to provide them with the very best care and support possible," AHS said. 

The original daycares linked to the shared kitchen have been permitted to re-open by AHS, but other schools and daycares in the city have been closed or partially closed due to what is believed to be secondary spread. 

Those daycares are: 

AHS said MTC Daycare site is not closed, but affected children and staff in the Prominade and McKenzie classrooms are being notified that they are excluded from attending all childcare facilities until they test negative for E. coli and remain symptom free.  

"Initial results suggest these cases affecting additional daycare facilities are mostly cases of secondary transmission. Either these new cases were in contact with children from the original daycare or children from the original daycares were in contact with the facility," the AHS statement said. 

"Two cases are not yet connected, and AHS is further investigating." 

AHS said it is seeing indications that the outbreak related to the initial exposure has peaked. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said during a media availability at the World Petroleum Congress Monday that the province will soon be at a point where they'll be able to shift into a review of what happened.