Source of
E. coli still unknown
01:02 PM PDT on Monday,
October 20, 2008
By ROB PIERCY / KING 5 News
Source of Article: http://www.nwcn.com/health/stories/NW_102008WAB_snoho_ecoli_SW.130641d44.html
Doctors in Snohomish
County are
investigating a flare-up of multiple cases of e-coli.
E-coli is now suspected of making 14 people sick.
Of those 14, only one required hospitalization, but is now at home
recovering.
Cases first appeared last week and the push is on now to figure how those
people got sick.
At the Everett Clinic Monday morning, we saw the test that alerted doctors
to the possibility of e-coli.
It’s what's called a presumptive test, and it's very accurate at
predicting whether a person is sick with the e-coli bacterium.
Doctors at the Everett Clinic diagnosed four of the 14 patients.
As you may know, e-coli is often spread through
contaminated food and in serious cases can lead to kidney failure and death.
We're told nurses are interviewing all 14 patients, trying to determine if
there is some thing linking them.
But so far they
have found none
The one thing that does point to this being an "e-coli cluster"
is the short length of time in which these people got sick.
While e-coli isn't a rare sickness, it is rare to see this many cases
clustered together.
The Snohomish County Health District says this is a good time to remind
people to thoroughly wash their hands throughout the day, to make sure meats
are thoroughly cooked and not to cross contaminate foods you may be preparing
with raw meat.
Public health officials are meeting this afternoon to discuss the latest
on the investigation.
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