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Health Officials Rule Out Water in E. coli Case

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

Health officials in Solano County, California, have ruled out the municipal water supply in the town of Dixon as the potential source of an E. coli infection that killed a 15-year-old boy who lived there.

In early December, part of Dixon was put under a boil water advisory after a utility pipe broke and E. coli was detected. The death occurred last week and health officials took stool samples from another area youth who had gone to the emergency room with symptoms of an E. coli infection.

The Reporter, a newspaper in Vacaville, California, reported today that the Solano County Public Heath Department has ruled out E. coli in the second child's illness. "That is very reassuring,'' said Dr. Ronald Chapman, deputy director of the county health department.

Chapman told the newspaper that multiple tests of city water supplies, including water at the boy's house, have come back negative for E. coli.

"The Dixon public should not have any concerns about the water,'' Chapman told The Reporter.

He said the fatal case of E. coli is still under investigation. One possibility is that naturally occurring E. coli in the boy's intestines made its way to his bloodstream, Chapman said.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).