E.coli outbreak meat supply link

Caitlin Bray is having dialysis as a result of the E.coli infection

A link has been established between a meat supplier and the E.coli outbreak at more than two dozen south Wales schools, public health experts say.

The firm, John Tudor and Son, of Bridgend, supplies cooked meat to schools and council institutions.

The firm was not available for comment but had withdrawn all its products, Food Standards Agency Wales said.

The number of E.coli cases among schoolchildren in three council areas has grown again, to 58.

The Food Standards Agency said it was possible that contaminated products may still be on the shelves of some stores because it believed that John Tudor and Son also supplied outlets that sold direct to consumers.

The agency has asked local authorities to ensure that all cooked meat products from the firm, delivered on or before 20 September, were removed.

Director Joy Winney said her team had also found the firm had supplied food products to "vulnerable consumers" in old people homes as well as to schools.

AMONG 25 SCHOOLS AFFECTED Primary: Abertaf; Blaengwawr; Bedlinog; Pengeulan; Capcoch; Caradog; Upper Rhymney; Comin; YGG Llwyncelyn; Cwmdare; Aberdare Town Church School; Troedyrhiw; Rhigos; Glenboi; Maesycoed; Cwmlai; Hirwaun; Parc Lewis Infants: Cwmbach; Penygraig; Cynon Secondary: Pen y Dre; St John the Baptist; Archbishop McGrath; Ysgol Pen Yr Englyn

On Wednesday, schools in Tonyrefail, Treherbert, Hirwaun and Treforest were revealed as having new cases of the E.coli 0157 strain. The bug has also spread to a school in Bridgend.

In Rhondda, three members of one family have been struck down with the illness. Caitlin Bray, three, and her four-year-old brother, Thomas, and their mother, Lisa, are all in hospital.

Caitlin is on dialysis in the kidney unit of the Bristol Children's Hospital, after developing the complication hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) which kills red blood cells and can cause kidney failure.

Her mother and brother are both in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

Public health officials are said to be 'on top of the problem'

Grandmother Lynne Bray said: "It's very frightening and its been a complete nightmare for us, for the whole family. We haven't slept properly since last Wednesday."

The family were among those who have criticised the authorities for not closing the schools until the outbreak was fully under control.

The National Public Health Service has said they expect numbers to rise as the outbreak reaches its peak, but have moved to quell public fears, claiming its response has been appropriate.

Spokesman Dr Roland Salmon said: "Given what we know about how long the incubation period can be, then it's certainly possible that we will see more cases.

"What we're anxious to do and what a number of the measures in place are designed to do is to make sure those cases don't infect other people and make them cases in their turn."

From the outbreak control point of view, it looks very much as it if is under control Senior Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Michael Simmons

The Senior Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Michael Simmons, said the move to withdraw cold meats and to have only cooked food served at the schools once the alert was raised had put the response team "on top of this problem". He disagreed with schools being closed.

He said: "I suspect we may well still see cases popping up, coming through from last week, because of the variable incubation that different children will have, and that will continue to worry parents, I know.

"But from the outbreak control point of view, it looks very much as it if is under control."

Tests have shown school canteens did not harbour the infection

He said the new case in Bridgend was a reflection of the supply network of the firm under investigation rather than "any jump of the organism".

Health service figures show that there are usually around 30 cases of E.coli food poisoning a year in Wales.

Sources of E.coli include handling raw meat, eating undercooked meat, consuming untreated milk or dairy products, direct contact with animals, or close contact with another infected person.

The condition is described as a serious form of food poisoning and symptoms can range from mild diarrhoea to abdominal cramps and blood in the stools.

A helpline has been set up with five lines, on 029 2040 2520, open from 0900 to 2100 BST every day until Friday.