Yesterday the Union Democrat reported that lab results returned last week show there is no connection between two different groups of Calaveras County children diagnosed with E. coli last month.
The Health Department has not found the sources of infection that sickened six people, ranging in age from 8 months to 17 years old. However, the common link between three boys of 13, 14 and 17 who got E. coli is that they each exhibited beef livestock at the May 13-16 Calaveras County Fair.
From the article:
“It is different strains of the bacteria between the first group of young children and the second group of teenagers,” said Colleen Tracy, county Public Health Department director. “We have not found any link between those two groups.”
Also, the 14-year-old and 17-year-old are brothers who live near Murphys and were shown to have the same strain of bacteria. The 13-year-old’s DNA tests have not been completed yet.
There are still no clues as to how 4-year-old Angels Camp resident Nicholas Kristoff, his 8-month-old sister Abigail and a 3-year-old family friend were infected with the bacteria in early May. Kristoff is the only victim who suffered a violent reaction — he was hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a related kidney complication, but has made a full recovery and has been discharged from Oakland Children’s Hospital.