Bloody diarrhea is usually the clue: 5 sick in E. coli outbreak linked to Oklahoma daycare

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Douglas Powell

The State Health Department confirms they are investigating several cases in children in the Moore area. The department says this is not related to the nationwide romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak but instead, the virus (it’s a bacterium) can be traced back to a Moore day care.

Neveah Bell is usually a very a happy and active baby. So earlier this month, it was obvious that something was very wrong.

“She wouldn’t even lift up her head, she was not eating anything. She wouldn’t play with her toys. She just wanted to be held,” said Melissa Bell, Neveah’s grandmother and guardian.

The day before, Neveah came home sick from day care.

“She had some diarrhea that was pretty violent and had blood,” said Bell.

Neveah was admitted to the hospital.

Doctors eventually confirmed she had E. coli.

The State Health Department says they have identified five cases of E. coli that can be traced back to a Moore day care. But say that’s not all that unusual.

“Clusters of cases happen in group settings, especially in child care facilities that are interacting on a daily basis,” explained Laurence Burnsed and Epidemiologist with the Oklahoma Department of Health.

E. coli can be transmitted directly or through contamination of objects that children share. The Health Department says they are working with the day care to stop further spread. Symptoms include diarrhea, bloody stools and cramps and like in Neveah’s case, it can be very serious.

“This is a bacteria that if it gets into your blood stream or effects other organs, it can cause other complications. Some occurrences can result in death,” explained Burnsed.

After two weeks in the hospital, Neveah has fully recovered. But her grandmother says it was a very scary time.

Pinto defense: We meet all standards, after 1 dead and six sickened at Perth childcare

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Douglas Powell

In the Aussie form of see, hear and speak no evil, evidence has emerged that a child has died following an outbreak of gastro at a lower North Shore (Perth) childcare centre.

Six children at Little Zak’s Academy in Artarmon — aged between 11 months and four years — developed high fevers and vomiting over the past week caused by rotavirus gastroenteritis, health authorities have confirmed.

But a seventh child died, with the causes so far unknown, although the death is not being directly attributed to the outbreak.

Northern Sydney Public Health Unit director Dr Michael Staff said four of the sick children had to be admitted to hospital.

“Tragically, another child who also attends the centre died in hospital on October 23, but at this stage it appears unrelated to the gastroenteritis outbreak,” he said.

He said they were working with specialist paediatricians to understand the cause of the child’s death.

Parents were tonight in shock over the news of the death.

An email from the local health district informing them of what had happened was only sent through this afternoon.

Michael Kendall, father to five-year-old Charlotte, said that he was “furious” and would not be bringing his child back to the child care centre.

He said the centre should have been shut down during the outbreak — and that he only just found out about what had happened.

“It’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard in my life, I only found about it 15 minutes ago, I just heard that a child has died.

“If I knew my child wouldn’t have been here.

“I used to run a big centre down at the snow and our first priority was to take care of people especially kids, once you have an outbreak you’re supposed to tell the parents and shut the premises down.”

A spokesman for the centre said Public Health Unit advice was that “the outbreak appears to be under control and it is safe for children to continue to attend the Centre.”

Little Zak’s said in a statement, “Please be assured our Artarmon Centre is fully accredited and compliant with all health and regulatory requirements, and we endeavour at all times to operate to the highest standards of care and hygiene. As confirmed by the Northern Sydney Local Health District, we will continue to work closely with its Public Health Unit to ensure these high standards are maintained.”

Pinto defense.

3 children at New York daycare infected with Salmonella

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Three children at the Rothschild Early Childhood Center in Syracuse have been diagnosed with Salmonella.

Alicia Gross, the center’s director, said the Onondaga County Health Department does not believe food served at the center was the source of the infection. She said it may have been spread person-to-person. The health department is still investigating.

The health department said it is monitoring the situation on a daily basis to make sure the infection does not spread further.

If you’re sick, stay at home: 14 sick, 1 dead at SC daycare, family settles $1M wrongful death claim over E. coli

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The family of a two-year-old who contracted E. coli from a South Carolina day care has settled a wrongful death claim for $1 million.

Court records show the family of 2-year-old Myles Mayfield settled the case Monday.

An attorney for the boy’s family tells local media that Myles got sick May 26 and tested positive for E. coli a few days later. Attorney Eric Hageman says the Learning Vine in Greenwood had not told parents a teacher had been sick from E. coli earlier that month.

Health officials say at least eight cases of E. coli were traced to the Learning Vine.

Center officials didn’t immediately comment on the settlement. Myles’ father said in a statement the family was glad to hold the day care accountable.

10 sick: E. coli O121 at childcare in Japan

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Escherichia coli O121 has stricken 10 people — seven children between ages 2 and 6, a nurse and two parents — at an officially authorized childcare facility in Naha.

According to the Okinawa Prefectural Office, after a 20-year-old nurse complained of symptoms including diarrhea, slight fever and stomachache, the cause was identified on Sep. 10 as the O121. A 4-year-old boy was confirmed of having the infection next to the nurse, and eventually 10 people developed the infection by of Oct. 2.

Handwashing intervention in daycares doesn’t reduce illness

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Either the employees were already real good at hand hygiene, or the interventions didn’t resonate with people.

Infections are common in children attending daycare centres (DCCs). We evaluated the effect of a hand hygiene (HH) intervention for caregivers on the incidence of gastrointestinal and respiratory infections in children. The intervention was evaluated in a two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial.

Thirty-six DCCs received the intervention including HH products, training sessions, and posters/stickers. Thirty-five control DCCs continued usual practice. Incidence of episodes of diarrhea and the common cold in children was monitored by parents during 6 months. Using multilevel Poisson regression, incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained. Diarrheal incidence was monitored in 545 children for 91 937 days. During follow-up, the incidence was 3·0 episodes per child-year in intervention DCCs vs. 3·4 in control DCCs (IRR 0·90, 95% CI 0·73–1·11). Incidence of the common cold was monitored in 541 children for 91 373 days. During follow-up, the incidence was 8·2 episodes per child-year in intervention DCCs vs. 7·4 in control DCCs (IRR 1·07, 95% CI 0·97–1·19).

In this study, no evidence for an effect of the intervention was demonstrated on the incidence of episodes of diarrhea and the common cold.

A hand hygiene intervention to reduce infections in child daycare: a randomized controlled trial

Epidemiology and Infection / Volume 143 / Issue 12 / September 2015, pp 2494-2502

P. Zomer, V. Erasmus, C. W. Looman, A. Tjon-A-Tsien, E. F. Van Beeck, J. M. De Graaf, A. H. E. Van Beeck, J. H. Richardus and H. A. C. M. Voeten

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9888395&utm_source=Issue_Alert&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=HYG

If you’re sick, stay at home: 14 sick, 1 dead at SC daycare, lawsuit filed

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The parents of a 2-year-old boy who died in May after an E. coli outbreak at a Greenwood daycare facility have filed a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed by Myles Mayfield’s parents, names The Learning Vine, LLC as the defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Myles died in Greenville Memorial Hospital from medical complications associated with E. coli, coroner Sonny Cox said.

The lawsuit alleges that the first case of E. coli illness in the outbreak was a teacher at the daycare facility. It says that after the teacher returned to work at the center, several of the children being cared for showed symptoms of the infection during the week of May 10, including Myles.

The lawsuit says the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control was not notified that a teacher The Learning Vine had been sick with an E. coli infection until May 18. The lawsuit said the daycare did not tell parents about the employee’s infection.

After he had been sick with diarrhea off and on for a couple weeks, Myles parents took him to his doctor on May 26 because his condition was worsening, the lawsuit says. Myles was sent home without treatment, and his parents later took him to the emergency room at Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood.

Myles was admitted to the hospital, and on May 27, he was transferred to Greenville Memorial, where he was put on dialysis and a ventilator and died May 31.

The lawsuit says that DHEC confirmed 14 cases of the infection connected to The Learning Vine. DHEC said that the “staggered onsets of illness indicated person-to-person transmission rather than exposure to a single source, such as food.”

10 sick, 1 possible death, from E. coli O157 at Indiana daycare

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The Fulton County Health Department released a statement Tuesday acknowledging that they are investigating cases of E. coli O157 among children who attend a local daycare, but that “all confirmed cases being investigated with this outbreak are associated with this daycare.”

Two children have been hospitalized.

7 kids sick with E. coli at SC daycare

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control says it has confirmed seven cases of E. coli associated with a Greenwood County daycare.

DHEC announced on Sunday the results of laboratory testing that confirmed the seven cases of E. coli.

To help limit the spread of the bacteria, DHEC issued a public health consent agreement with The Learning Vine to close.

The daycare has closed voluntarily and has cooperated with the investigation.

“Our primary concern is protecting the health and safety of the community,” said State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell. “We continue to work closely with the daycare facility and community partners to identify the source of the contamination and stop the spread of the infection.”

In the news release, DHEC said it had taken the following steps to identify the source of the infection and stop its spread:

Completed an initial onsite inspection of the daycare facility and provided cleaning guidance
Conducted over 50 interviews to identify and notify individuals at possible risk for exposure
Collected and tested samples for laboratory analysis
Established a hotline and held a forum to provide assistance to those affected
Confirmed the daycare facility had completed the required cleaning by conducting a follow-up inspection with the S.C. Department of Social Services
Issued a public health consent agreement with the daycare facility in order to limit the possibility of further spread of the infection.

26 sick at Mexican daycare

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Douglas Powell

State officials confirmed that at least 26 children were stricken with food poisoning Tuesday while staying at the Child Development Center (Cendi) in the city of Villa de Álvarez.

Health Secretary Agustín Lara Esqueda said, “Laboratory samples of children were taken to determine the causes of poisoning, although it is assumed that all ingested an panela cheese, which could be the source of infection.”

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