The press release below discusses a cluster of E. coli cases in Maine. Because no common venue (for example, a restaurant), event, or food has been found, there is not yet someone to hold liable for the illnesses. If a common venue, event, or food is found, anyone with a confirmed case of E. coli O157:H7 should contact an E. coli lawyer immediately.
E.coli O157:H7 (STEC) cluster in MaineMaine CDC is investigating a cluster of six hemorrhagic shiga toxin positive E.coli O157:H7 (STEC) cases in mid-coast and central Maine that occurred among residents over the past 3 weeks (case onset dates of August 22 to September 13 and ages range 9 months to 75 years). As of September 19, four of the six have been confirmed shiga-positive E.coli O157:H7 by the Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL). Two other specimens are pending and one other suspect case is under investigation. All patients had bloody diarrhea and one (adult) was hospitalized. At this time, the investigation is ongoing although we have not identified any common venues, events or foods based on case interviews.Maine CDC needs to enhance E.coli surveillance to increase case detection that will facilitate our epidemiologic investigation efforts. Practitioners seeing patients with symptoms of sustained and/or bloody diarrhea should be vigilant in collecting stool specimens for bacterial culture and shiga-toxin testing. Suspected or confirmed cases should be rapidly reported to the Maine CDC at 1-800-821-5821 and all positive specimens should be forwarded to HETL for confirmatory testing.
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