Make California Post a Preferred Source E. coli has spread to a California preschool, prompting the closure of affected classrooms and a thorough cleaning, after a pumpkin patch outbreak killed a person this week.
San Luis Obispo County officials said the newly infected person developed severe complications from the infection but is now recovering at home. The person contracted the infection from person-to-person contact at a San Luis Obispo preschool.
The infected person never visited the source of the outbreak, Brookshire Farms, but is thought to have come into contact with someone who did.
“One case of person-to-person transmission has been identified at a preschool in San Luis Obispo,” the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department wrote in a Facebook post.
“The person did not visit Brookshire Farms. The individual developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication of STEC infection, and was hospitalized. The individual is now recovering at home.”
San Luis Obispo County Health Officer Dr. Christy Mulkerin said families have been notified and the affected classrooms will be closed Monday.
“Since the transmission is thought to have occurred at the school, families were notified, thorough cleaning protocols were initiated, and the affected classrooms will be closed on Monday. The preschool has been working collaboratively with Public Health,” she said.
The pumpkin patch outbreak sent three children to pediatric intensive care after they developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, which most commonly occurs in young children. Officials said five people contracted E. coli after visiting the farm on Oct. 17 or 18, and 10 additional individuals who visited the farm between Oct. 16 and 26 developed matching symptoms.
Health officials were unable to pinpoint the exact source of the outbreak, even though they found other strains of E. coli in samples taken at the farm. Those results did not identify the source of the E. coli O157 outbreak.
Brookshire Farms co-owner Shawn Callaway previously said he was “destroyed” by the outbreak.
“We’ve gone through … about 11 days now of numbness. I can’t explain it… I mean, the worries, the fears, the concerns, the ups and downs. I mean, how do you explain it? I don’t know,” he said.
Callaway added that cleanliness was not a problem at the farm and that he didn’t believe the farm’s pumpkins were the source of the outbreak.
“(The county) never tested our pumpkins,” Callaway told The Tribune. “They refused to test our pumpkins and said it was not in their investigational area because the pumpkins didn’t have the ability to get tested correctly.”
Officials said that symptoms of E. coli include “severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (which may be bloody), vomiting and, in some cases, fever.”
Young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk, officials warned.
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