Confirmed E. coli cases rises to 8

By MATTHEW RALPH
Matthew.Ralph@newsandtribune.com

September 29, 2007 05:52 pm

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GOT QUESTIONS?

Floyd County health department offices will be open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to answer any questions or concerns from the community. The phone number is 812-948-4726.
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The number of laboratory-confirmed E. coli cases has reached eight with another eight suspected all from the same group of cases linked to Galena Elementary, health officials said Friday.
Dr. Tom Harris, Floyd County health officer, said one of the new cases was an adult connected to Galena, but would not say whether it was a parent or a teacher.
He said the additional cases likely received the infection from the first group of E. coli-infected children, but remained optimistic that the outbreak has been contained. The incubation period of the infection is typically up to 10 days.
“There is no evidence at this point that we have an ongoing transmission of disease,” Harris said.
Nine patients were hospitalized with E. coli symptoms at Kosair Children’s Hospital on Friday, two more than the day before. Some patients have been released, but neither the hospital or the health department would release details on the number of patients released or the conditions of those still hospitalized.
The most recent case began developing symptoms on Sept. 24, a week after the first cases began showing symptoms, which include bloody diarrhea. All but one of the 16 possible cases are children, he said.
The source of the 0157:H7 strain — the most dangerous of hundreds of strains of the bacterial infection — has still not been pinpointed.
Harris said 70 surveys were received Friday from parents. The surveys eliminated the possibility that the infection occurred from food eaten at breakfast, Harris said.
“None [of the victims] ate breakfast,” he said.
The surveys are being run through a computer at the Indiana Department of Health in Indianapolis to identify common links that might lead to a break in a mystery Harris said may never be solved.
The odds of the E. coli cases not being solved is between 10 and 20 percent, Harris noted.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t TV,” Harris said. “We won’t have the answer in one or two hours,” Harris said.
Superintendent Dennis Brooks, chief administrator in the 11,000-student New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp., again defended the administration’s choice to keep the school open.
“Safety of the students is at the head of our list,” Brooks said, noting that a routine cleaning schedule has been in place all week and will continue.
The 400-student school reported 61 absences on Friday, nine less than a day earlier. Absences have ranged from 60 to 80 students since the first cases were confirmed Sept. 21.
In a move Harris said may be a first for the county health department, offices will be open today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to answer any questions or concerns from the community. The phone number is 812-948-4726.