A child has died and another is seriously ill in an E. coli outbreak that may be associated with the Oxford county fair in Maine. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating this outbreak along with officials from the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and state veterinarians. Both children attended the fair last month. Public health officials are investigating the fair and taking samples from animal exhibits and other venus. Little Colton Guay died after developing hemolytic uremic syndrome a week after attending the fair according to the Boston Globe. HUS is a serious complication of an E. coli infection that attacks the kidneys and can cause strokes, seizures, and kidney failure. The 21-month-old was in his stroller when the family visited … [Read more...]
School Outbreak in Maine Sickened 22 Children Last Week
According to the Portland Press Herald, 22 Portland schoolchildren were sickened with food poisoning last week at Reiche Elementary School. Officials suspect a pickled beet salad may be the culprit. School officials alerted public health officials when student began to throw up about an hour after lunch on Tuesday, March 17, 2015. The cafeteria at Reiche was the only school in the public school system to serve that beet salad that day. There were no illnesses in the rest of the district. Lab results are pending. No students needed to see the doctor. Twenty-one of the twenty-two sickened students returned to school the next day. The school district's central kitchen and the kitchen at Reiche School were inspected by public health officials. While the district kitchens passed … [Read more...]
