Fresno E. coli outbreak update
Fresno County health officials continue to investigate an E. coli outbreak that has sickened as many as 20 people so far. According to a report from KFSN-TV in Fresno, the Fresno County Health Department and Fresno County Environmental Health are looking into whether the Meat Market is the source of the E. coli outbreak.
The Fresno County Health Department says 20 cases have been reported. Dr. Ed Moreno, Fresno County Public Health Director, says, "There are actually several cases that are under investigation by public health staff. In particular, we have three private events that have come to our attention." Each occurred May 19th. "Among these three events, there was one common supplier of food, " says Dr. Moreno. He continues, "There was also a wedding and another graduation party and everybody narrowed it down to the meat. . .everybody was picking up their meat at the same time, at the Meat Market."
The grill at the popular Meat Market in north Fresno was shut down for about an hour while county health inspectors checked the facility. Tim Casagrande, Fresno County Environmental Health says, "Our staff's gonna be looking at essentially food handling, critical points, temperatures."
Laboratory results from samples submitted by five outbreak victims have already come back positive for E. coli, and additional tests on other outbreak victims are pending. In a story for the Fresno Bee, Barbara Anderson wrote:
A Saint Agnes Medical Center spokeswoman said doctors saw six patients with E. coli symptoms between Thursday and Sunday. Two of the six were admitted and one remained in the hospital Tuesday, she said.Moreno said people began showing up at emergency departments on May 21 with cramping pain and bloody diarrhea. Hospital laboratories reported results of E. coli tests to the county Friday and Saturday.
Symptoms of E. coli typically surface in two to three days from exposure, but can take up to eight days to appear.
Hospital tests showed the patients -- from toddlers to older adults -- had a strain of E. coli O157, Moreno said. County health officials suspect the strain is E. coli O157:H7, a more virulent form, but results confirming it will not be available from the state laboratory for at least another week.
The Bee also reported that one person remained hospitalized at Saint Agnes Medical Center. The story does not say whether that person has developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication of E. coli infection that can lead to kidney failure.
