KXXV confirms that 11 people have become sick after eating at Jason’s Deli in Killeen, Texas. Doctors confirmed five of them had a strain of the bacteria escherichia coli (O157:H7) that has been known to result in hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), a potentially fatal complication that can lead to kidney failure. Two were hospitalized, and Bell County health officials announced that the case was closed this week. The most likely source was identified as a batch of guacamole made on April 13th, used as spread for the “California Club” sandwich.

According to Mac McLean, an E. coli outbreak involving E. coli O157:H7, E. coli O103 and E. coli O169 and outbreak that’s plagued Northeast Tennessee since mid-May has sickened two more people – bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the eight-county Northeast Tennessee region so far this year to 15. On June 5, a 2-year-old girl and her 5-year-old brother from Dryden, Va., were rushed to the Johnson City Medical Center’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit after they developed an E. coli infection. The girl died at the hospital that day while her brother was sent to another hospital for further treatment and later released.

The Tulsa City-County Health Department said three children have been sickened by E. coli bacteria.  Agency spokeswoman Melanie Christian said the department’s lab confirmed the cases in the children, who are under 10 years old. Christian said two of the children were hospitalized but one has gone home.  She says two of the children are siblings.  Agency officials are still investigating how and where the children contracted the illness.  Christian said two of the children go to daycare at the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa, but that’s the only common point of contact.

KDAF TV Dallas reports that Hannah Fielding and Jacqueline Peterson in May went on a European vacation that took them to Prague, Vienna and Nuremburg, Germany where at the train station–they day before they came home–they ate a meal of pasta, chicken, rice and several vegetables.

Sure enough–Jacqueline tested positive for E. coli while Hannah is waiting for her final results. Dr. Alaidroos said Jacqueline may be the first person identified in the United States with the particular toxin circulating in Germany.

“All I got for a souvenir was this E. coli,” Hannah said with a laugh.

The Tulsa City-County Health Department said three children have been sickened by E. coli bacteria.

Agency spokeswoman Melanie Christian said the department’s lab confirmed the cases in the children, who are under 10 years old. Christian said two of the children were hospitalized but one has gone home.

She says two of the children are siblings.

Agency officials are still investigating how and where the children contracted the illness.

Christian said two of the children go to daycare at the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa, but that’s the only common point of contact.

According to press reports in Thailand, the government said Thursday that it had found E. coli bacteria in avocados imported from Europe and was checking whether it was the same strain as the one behind a deadly outbreak in Europe.

The government urged the public not to panic, noting that there are several types of E. coli. It said people could still eat fresh fruit and vegetables, but should wash them thoroughly or cook them to kill bacteria.

The O104 strain of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli was detected in a shipment of avocados from an undisclosed European country, according to a public health ministry statement.

“The Medical Science Department will have to spend 3-5 days to check whether it is a deadly strain,” it said.

Thanks to Reuters and Lisa Baertlein or I would have not known that the United States has made headway fighting a deadly E. coli, but a lethal outbreak in Germany and a lack of progress against Salmonella show how much remains to be done to keep food safe, health officials said on Tuesday.

European scientists are scrambling to find the source of the E. coli outbreak in Germany that has infected more than 2,400 people and killed 23 of them.

The German outbreak is caused by the rare strain of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli known as STEC O104:H4. It appears to be the deadliest outbreak of E. coli ever seen, with a third of patients developing the severe complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which frequently leads to kidney failure and can result in death.

Public health officials in the United States focus on the deadly Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection known as O157:H7, which is best known for causing the 1993 outbreak that killed four people who ate tainted hamburgers from Jack in the Box.

The incidence of that infection fell by roughly half between 1997 and 2010, according to Vital Signs, an annual food safety report that summarizes data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet).

The report attributed the drop to improved slaughter methods, testing, better inspections and other efforts. Meat is often cooked, offering another layer of protection.

While incidence of U.S. O157:H7 infections fell in 2010, there was a nearly 58 percent rise in other Shiga-toxin producing E. coli infections, which scientists refer to as STEC non-O157. Officials began monitoring those infections in 2000.

According to news reports, a child in SW Virginia has died of an E. coli infection, and another person “in close contact” with the child has been infected as well.

Virginia Department of Health spokesman Robert Parker said Monday afternoon that the E. coli that killed the child and infected a second person has been identified as the strain “0157H7.”

Unofficially, the child who died has been identified as a 2-year-old girl from Dryden, Va. A call to the Lee County Health Department requesting information about the death of a 2-year-old Dryden girl due to possible E. coli infection was directed first to the Wise County Health Department, then to Dr. Eleanor Cantrell, director of the Lenowisco Health District. A call requesting comment from Cantrell was later returned by Parker.

The girl’s brother is reportedly undergoing treatment at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, although officials there declined to release any information on the boy.

One child has died, two more are in the hospital, and seven others have suffered E. coli infections this month. Health officials said they are treating reports, “like an outbreak.”