Calgary’s E. coli outbreak, which was declared on Sept. 4 after dozens of children presented to hospital with significant gastrointestinal illness, has become Alberta’s largest.
As of Sept. 12, there have been 264 lab confirmed cases of E. coli infection amongst children and a small handful of adults, stemming from what officials say was likely food from a centralized kitchen located near Eau Claire. The exact source of the infection is, as of Tuesday, unknown.
Dr. Mark Joffe, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Alberta, said that Alberta Health Services staff have been doing everything they can for the patients.
“Our physicians, our nurses, our lab staff, and other frontline providers are all working around the clock to provide the very best care to their patients. This has not been easy. The age of the children the severity of the illness, and the numbers involved have all made this extremely challenging,” he said.
Dr. Joffe said that AHS took swift action in closing the centralized kitchen operated by Fueling Minds Inc., and that prevented further spread of E. coli infections.
“Our public health physicians, inspectors in the entire public health team continue to investigate the cause of this outbreak, to work with those who have become ill to analyze incredibly large volumes of information and to ensure that everything possible is done before these daycares can safely reopen,” Dr. Joffe said.
“I want to be absolutely clear that this has been an extraordinary outbreak, both in terms of the numbers and the severity. It is certainly the largest E coli outbreak in Alberta that I’m aware of. It’s particularly serious, given that it has largely impacted young children who are at most risk of severe outcomes.”
The largest previous outbreak of E. coli in Alberta occurred in 2014, after people across the province ate tainted pork products. In that outbreak, 119 people were lab confirmed as infected, 23 were hospitalized, and six developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
As of Tuesday, 25 people are currently in hospital—the majority at the Alberta Children’s Hospital—11 patients have been discharged, and 22 patients have developed varying severity of HUS.
Dr. Joffe said that on average, Alberta sees between 200 to 300 cases of E. coli per year in the province.
In order to treat the large number of patients requiring daily blood testing, clinics for patients of the outbreak have been set up at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, the Peter Lougheed Hospital, and the South Heath Campus.
Dr. Tania Principi, section chief, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Alberta Children’s Hospital said that staff have been taking extraordinary measures including extra shifts to care for their child patients.
“We want to make sure that they don’t have to go through the busy emergency department and have long wait on top of what they’re already managing and dealing with,” she said.
