Boone County health officials believe E.coli outbreak is from the same DNA

Health officials say the recent E.coli outbreak in Boone County could be from the same DNA strain.

Four E.coli cases have been confirmed in Boone County. Officials say they are currently investigating where the source is coming from thru lab samples, and that it could take weeks till results are finalized.

Doctors say typically a majority of E.coli cases start from contamination of food or water.

ABC 17 News spoke with an Pediatric Infectious Disease expert who says some people don’t show symptoms right away. Normally e.coli can last in the body for two weeks.

Dr. Christelle Ilboudo says, “let’s say the bloody stools are done and over with, we can still find that bacteria in that stool for three weeks after that.”

Whenever there is an outbreak it is a concern all doctors in the area take seriously, “The reason it’s scary is because it only takes a few bacteria to cause this disease to happen, and when there is a cluster or a outbreak, we are worried about toxins that could produce serious illness,” Ilboudo said.

ABC 17 News spoke with a Hallsville mother whose four year old daughter has had E.coli for more than three weeks.

“It started August 12th, she came home with a tummy ache, and then we found blood in her stool so we took her to the hospital where the testing came back as positive.”

The infection is a continuous battle the family is fighting. Autumn Robins says she’s used all her vacation days to stay home to take care of her daughter, who has taken several tests that have all come back as positive.

Boone County Health Department says there job during this time is to provide preventative steps to make sure the e.coli doesn’t continue to spread.

Doctors say some serious cases of e.coli can lead to kidney failure, but Doctors say only twenty percent of cases result in that.

Typical treatments for e.coli are usually just drinking lots of fluids but in severe cases antibiotics can be prescribed.

ABC 17 News reached out to Columbia Public Schools to see if they are taking any precautionary measures, the District spokesperson said “Our buildings are cleaned daily.”

Doctors say younger and older people are more prone to e.coli and more than 70,000 cases reported each year in the U.S.