Chris Cline of the Daily Journal reports that the St. Francois County Health Department conducted routine inspections at two local restaurants on Monday in an attempt to identify where a strain of E. coli 0157:H7 originated that infected a 2-year-old Bonne Terre girl.
From the article:
“We have not made any direct links to any of the food establishments that we inspected with the origin of strain of E. coli 0157:H7,” said John Peacock, Environmental Public Health Specialist. “We were given information from the family of the infected person of places they had eaten prior to being infected. Typically we like to have nine days of food history prior to the infection. The family struggled with naming anything beyond the day prior to the illness.”
“We also took a water sample out of the private well at the residence of the family,” Peacock said. “It came back negative.”
“We want to stress to the public how serious this is,” said Maserang. “People really need to pay attention and take precautions when eating out and eating in their own homes.”
Emilie Allen remains on life support at Cardinal Glennon Hospital after contracting E. coli 0157:H7 on Sept. 18.