E.coli infects nine children

The school has been closed until further notice

Nine children have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal E.coli infection at a nursery in Antrim.

E.coli is a serious form of food poisoning which has a range of symptoms including vomiting and diarrhoea.

Laura's Lodge Day Nursery closed voluntarily on Thursday following advice from Environmental Health Officers and the Northern Health Board.

Earlier that day, two children had been sick and the previous week another child was found to have E.Coli 0157.

Sixty children and staff are being screened for the illness, and the Northern Health Board is running further checks on children who had initially tested negative.

The board confirmed on Monday nine children at the Station Road creche were now infected, and that finding the source of the outbreak was its main objective.

Cattle

Michael Devine, consultant in communicable diseases at the Northern Health Board, said this type of infection - E.coli 0157 - was often passed on from cattle.

"It has the potential to be a serious infection," he said.

"The primary source of the infection is from cattle then people acquire the infection either through direct contact with the animals, through the food chain and it also readily passes from person to person."

Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to that strain of the infection.

E.coli symptoms include vomiting and diarrhoea

The number of cases in the UK have tripled in the last decade, jumping from 361 cases in 1991 to over 1,000 cases in 1997.

About 15% of cattle are now thought to carry it in their gut.

Mr Devine added: "I don't want to cause undue alarm, but we must be fair to people and point out that this is potentially life-threatening and must be taken very seriously.

"This is a serious situation, but one we're responding to with all haste."

Symptoms may appear within hours or days, depending on a series of factors, including the number of organisms ingested, the person's state of health and their natural resistance to the bug.

They range from mild diarrhoea to abdominal cramps and blood in the stools as well as a temperature.

Anyone with these symptoms is urged to seek medical help.

Most people shake off the bug within about a week with the help of antibiotics.

Staff at the Antrim nursery, children and parents have been screened for the bacteria.

A huge clean-up operation is under way at the nursery.