Daycare E. coli Outbreak in Clark County
A Clark County daycare E. coli outbreak in Washington has sent four children to the hospital, including one who remains hospitalized.
Public health officials have shut down the daycare center and won’t reopen it until tests determine that all staff and children are free of the pathogen. In group settings like a daycare facility, there is risk of person-to-person transmission of the illness, which often begins with consumption of contaminated food — ground beef especially.
The first details of the outbreak were provided by the Portland Oregonian newspaper, which interviewed Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County’s public health officer.
“In the current outbreak, Melnick said the health department learned of the first hospitalization on March 19. Soon after, three other children required hospitalization. Melnick said investigators tested stool samples from 22 children and four adult caregivers at the day care and found six carrying the O157:H7 strain but not showing symptoms.”
The daycare center, which was not named by the Oregonian, closed April 2. Clark County, Washington, is part of the greater Portland/Vancouver area.
National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen has begun its own investigation into this daycare outbreak and is accepting cases from families affected by it. To contact an E. coli lawyer at the firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online contact form.
We are one of the few law firms in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation, including many E. coli outbreaks. An outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 is particularly dangerous in a daycare setting because young children are most prone to E. coli HUS or hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Also known as E. coli in the brain or hemolytic uremia, this complication of E. coli infection can be life-threatening and extend far beyond kidney failure. E. coli O157:H7 organisms emit a powerful toxin that attacks red blood cells and can lead not only to renal failure, but stroke, heart damage, brainstem injury, coma, convulsions and paralysis. Closely associated with HUS is a complication known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or TTP.
The cause of this outbreak has not been determined, but most likely it was preventable and undoubtedly raises serious questions that can be answered in the course of an investigation.
Tags: Daycare E coli, E. coli Outbreak
