New E.coli cases found at school

Officials say the Abercynon cases are not caused by school meals

A number of new cases of E.coli have been discovered at a south Wales Valleys infant school, it has emerged.

Abercynon School reopened on Thursday after closing on Saturday when several pupils became ill.

All 64 children have been tested and a spokesman confirmed that a few new cases have come to light but would not say how many.

The south Wales outbreak has affected 163 people, mostly children, and led to the death of five-year-old Mason Jones.

Abercynon Infants School, in the Cynon valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, had not previously been involved in the outbreak which began on 18 September

Garyn Thomas was celebrating his fifth birthday at home on Thursday

Public health officials held a question-and-answer session with some parents of pupils at the school on Sunday, where an advice pack and testing kit was issued.

A second open session was held on Monday evening at the school, which has 64 pupils aged between three and seven.

Eight pupils returned to the school when it re-opened on Thursday.

The Welsh Assembly Government has promised a "no-holds-barred inquiry" into the outbreak.

On Wednesday it appointed food safety expert Professor Hugh Pennington as chairman of the inquiry into the outbreak.

Professor Pennington carried out an inquiry into an outbreak in Scotland in 1996 which killed 17 people.

We have got five years of checks to make sure that he does not need further dialysis Jeanette Thomas

A total of 42 schools across the south Wales valleys have been linked to the outbreak of the E.coli 0157 infection which first emerged in September.

Abercynon Infants School is the 43rd school involved, but the authorities are not including it in the list because the cause of the infection is not thought to be the primary source, school dinners.

Meanwhile, the mother of one little boy who became critically ill with the bug, has been warned it could be five years before doctors can give him the all clear.

Garyn Thomas, five, from Penrhiwceiber, spent almost a month fighting for his life after being airlifted to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.

His mother Jeanette Thomas told BBC Wales that at the peak of his illness doctors warned he could die.

Parents of pupils at the school were given advice packs on E.coli

Garyn underwent three blood transfusions and was on dialysis for 17 days.

"He was fed through a nasal tube and then ended up with peritonitis as well, so he was really, really poorly."

Mrs Thomas said that she now faces an agonising five years as her son undergoes further tests.

"We have got five years of checks to make sure that he does not need further dialysis or that he does not need a transplant," she said.

"We don't really want to look at the future but hopefully he's on the right road."