Parents have been warned to be alert for signs of a “very infectious” strain of E. coli after a pupil from Thurnby Lodge Primary, in Leicester, contracted the O157 strain of the bug.

The source of the infection, caught over the half-term holidays, is not known, the school said. The severity of the illness has not been disclosed, but pupils in the same
class were sent letters by Public Heath England.

A spokeswoman for the school said, in her best British bureaucratese, “Thurnby Lodge Primary has received no further notifications of such incidents and it is deemed likely that the child was infected outside of school during the holidays. The letters from Public Health England came via the academy and were just a precautionary measure.”

The cockles of the parents were warmed.

And what kind of school is named, Thumby?