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N.B. Day-Care Closed After Child Taken to Hospital With E. Coli Infection

Posted on: Thursday, 24 August 2006, 15:00 CDT

By KEVIN BISSETT

FREDERICTON (CP) - Public health officials in New Brunswick are trying to determine how and where a four-year-old girl became infected with E. coli.

Dr. Cristin Muecke, the district medical health officer for Fredericton, said Thursday that a day-care centre the child attended in the city was closed on Monday for precautionary reasons.

So far, Muecke said, health officials have been unable to determine the type of E. coli that the child contracted, but they are confident it is not the virulent subtype 0157.

The girl's condition is stable and improving at a hospital in Halifax, Muecke told a news conference on Thursday.

The child is expected to return home soon, she added.

A thorough investigation of the day-care centre's operations, including food preparation, has been done.

"To date we haven't been able to determine the exact source of the organism," Muecke said.

"The day care is only one component of the investigation. The investigation also includes detailed interviews with family members of the case in hospital as well as other possibly affected children to determine if there are other sources, either through travel or through other things the children did outside of day care."

Four other children who attended the day care reported milder symptoms but did not require medical treatment, she said.

One parent who was tested also came back positive for E. coli.

Muecke said she is optimistic that they will be able to find the source of the potentially deadly bacteria.

A sign has been posted on the door of the Bright Beginnings day care in the city's downtown area advising parents to monitor their children's health, particularly for vomiting and diarrhea.

The notice from the Family and Community Services Department is dated Aug. 14.

A separate note urges those entering the facility to make sure they wash their hands.

Muecke said there is no threat to public health and all those directly affected, including staff at the centre, have been contacted. Between 35 and 40 children attend the day care.

She said there is no timeline for reopening the day care.

Symptoms of E. coli include diarrhea, cramps and a mild fever.

Young children, the elderly and chronically ill are particularly at risk from the bacteria.

Three years ago a coroner's jury recommended tougher standards for day cares, especially when it comes to food and food preparation, to prevent the kind of E. coli outbreak that killed a New Brunswick toddler.

The jury made 48 recommendations to protect children in day cares after the death of 23-month-old Jeffrey Bates in December 2001 from complications of an E. coli infection.

Five other people associated with the YWCA-YMCA day care Bates attended in Saint John, N.B., also became infected with E. coli, but there were no other fatalities.

Source: Canadian Press

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