Tagged: E. coli

State health officials say five people from central Missouri, including two toddlers, have contracted E. coli since late March.

The state health department said Monday it had not determined the source of the bacteria. But a Boone County health spokeswoman says three of the patients, including a 2-year-old, reported drinking raw dairy products.

The department says the 2-year-old was hospitalized and a 17-month-old developed life-threatening complications affecting the kidneys.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that romaine lettuce was the source of the E. coli outbreak that sickened a total of 60 people in ten states earlier this fall.

Thirty-seven of those infected were in Missouri.

On its website, the CDC says the lettuce came from salad bars from a single grocery store chain but did not report the name of the chain. Schnucks management has confirmed that it is the chain in question.

Number of E. coli cases in St. Louis grows

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says there are now 30 confirmed cases of E. coli in the St. Louis area, and officials continue looking for the source. Health officials have tested 55 food samples connected to the St. Louis outbreak, but zero have been confirmed to have E. coli.

The first cases were reported late last month in St. Louis city and St. Louis, Jefferson and St. Charles counties in Missouri and St. Clair County, Illinois.