E.coli Outbreak in South Wales

I first wish to express my sympathy to those individuals and their families who have been affected by this outbreak particularly those who required hospital care. The large number of children who have been investigated remains a concern for us all.  While new cases are in decline I would still urge parents who are concerned about their children to seek medical help. There have been a number of E.coli O157 cases in the Rhondda Cynon Taff, Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend and Caerphilly areas.  Since the start over 115 cases have been identified with a quarter admitted to hospital. We rely on the Outbreak Control Team (OCT) to update numbers.


With the control measures proving effective in schools, it is expected that most new cases will have caught the infection outside schools.  It is still probable that the number of cases will increase further.  This is not because the source of the outbreak remains live. It is because it takes time for the germ to incubate – sometimes more than a week – and new cases are still emerging who caught the germs before the control measures were taken at the beginning of last week.  There are now cases identified from 32 schools where exposure to the source has apparently resulted in infection.
E. coli O157 is one of hundreds of strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli. Although most strains are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy humans and animals, this strain produces a powerful toxin and can cause severe illness.  Eating meat that has not been cooked sufficiently to kill E. coli O157 can cause infection. E. coli O157 infection often causes severe bloody diarrhoea and abdominal cramps; sometimes the infection causes non-bloody diarrhoea or no symptoms. Usually little or no fever is present, and the illness resolves in 5 to 10 days.  In some persons, particularly children under 5 years of age and the elderly, the infection can also cause a complication called haemolytic uremic syndrome, in which the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail. A small percentage of infections lead to this complication.

Environmental Health Officers are interviewing all cases and close contacts, as part of a wider in depth investigation to identify the potential source.  An OCT including officers of the Local Authorities, National Public Health Service Wales, Local Health Board, Hospitals and Food Standards Agency is overseeing the investigations to ensure that the cause of the outbreak is understood and remedial action is taken as soon as possible.  I would like to express my thanks to the OCT for their work to date.  Their authoritative advice has instilled confidence in those affected and provided advice which has helped people to reduce the spread of infection.

Schools have been contacted and advised to:

• ensure good personal hygiene with pupils;
• suspend activities that can facilitate spread of the germs – sand/water play, play with plasticine and cookery activities
• ensure thorough cleaning following incidents involving diarrhoea or vomiting in their school.
• Only serve hot cooked meals at lunchtimes

Parents of pupils in schools have been contacted and advised to ensure their children use good personal hygiene.

The Outbreak Control Team established a link between cooked meats supplied by a Bridgend company John Tudor and Son and the cases of illness.  It is important to stress that this does not mean that those products are necessarily the cause of the outbreak.  Samples have been taken for microbiological testing and we await the results of those tests.  Bridgend County Borough Council visited the premises of the Bridgend company on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th of September.  They took emergency prohibition actions based on conditions found at the premises, following which it was decided that cooked meats from John Tudor and Son of Bridgend should be removed from use.
 
A list of customers supplied by John Tudor and Son of Bridgend was received by the Food Standards Agency on Wednesday 21 September.  This list comprised institutional caterers such as schools, day centres, nurseries and leisure centres.  The Agency decided to issue a “Food Alert for Action” to all Welsh local authorities, asking them to contact catering and retail premises, having regard to the list.
 
The Agency also issued a statement, putting the name of the company into the public domain and asking any food businesses receiving supplies of cooked meat from that company to remove them from sale and inform their local authority.

The Agency worked with Bridgend County Borough Council to try to establish a full list of premises, which might have received supplies of cooked meat from the Bridgend company.  As additional premises were identified, the Agency issued updates to its alert, asking local authorities to broaden the scope of their contact with premises in their areas.

Clearly this is a very serious outbreak.  Last week I responded positively to calls for an inquiry. The precise nature of an inquiry will depend on the outcome of immediate reviews that will take place and legal advice. However  I am determined to ensure that whatever needs to be done will be done.

Any enquiry will be open, transparent and thorough so that  the  lessons that need to be learned will be learnt with the intention that these events will not happen again.  

The OCT is managing a telephone helpline that continues to operate on – 029 2040 2520 between the hours of 9am – 5pm.

I have also said that I am happy to have a debate on this issue in Plenary tomorrow.