Two children are being treated at Yorkhill Hospital

A nine-year-old girl, also from Fife, who has been confirmed as suffering from the bug, is also in a serious condition.

Both girls are being cared for in Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow.

Their cases are not connected.

Fife Health Board said the two girls were admitted to separate hospitals after falling ill in unrelated incidents last week.

Stomach pain

The 18-month-old from west Fife was said to be in a "serious but stable" condition.

The nine-year-old has been confirmed as suffering from E.coli O157 poisoning, while the results of tests on the toddler are expected back within the next 36 hours.

A 20-month-old girl who was admitted together with the 18-month-old girl to the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, was discharged on Sunday and is recovering at home.

E.coli is a bacterium present in the intestine which can cause vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhoea and fever.

The E.coli O157 strain of the bacterium was responsible for the death of 21 elderly people in an outbreak in Lanarkshire in 1996.