Reuters reports an outbreak of E.coli cases in northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia has sickened 13 people and resulted in the death of a young child, public health officials said on Friday.

Virginia has two confirmed cases of the E. coli strain O157:H7. Both Virginia cases affected children who had close contact with each other, and one of those children died, said Maureen Dempsey, a Virginia Public Health Department deputy chief.

Dempsey declined to confirm the age and sex of each of the children, but local media reported a 2-year-old girl from Dryden, Virginia, died on Sunday and her brother, who was also infected, was released from a hospital a few days later.

Northeastern Tennessee has 11 laboratory-confirmed cases of E.coli since June 1, said David Kirschke, medical director of the Northeast Tennessee Regional Health Office.

Three cases were O157:H7, and the remainder other strains in a category known as non-O157, he said. Kirschke said no link has been made between the Virginia and Tennessee cases.

"We’re not even sure if our cases are linked with each other," he said, adding the Tennessee O157:H7 strains also are being genetically fingerprinted to see if they are from a single source.

Still, Kirschke said health officials are treating the cases as an outbreak due to their large number, their close proximity and the short time frame of their appearance

"It seems too coincidental to have this many cases in a week," he said.