Two new cases of E.coli have been confirmed by health officials in Suffolk, England taking the total number of cases to 16. Three of the victims contracted the deadly disease in Tunisia, said reports.
The BBC reported Friday that a nine-year-old girl picked up the potentially deadly E.coli O157 while on holiday in Tunisia. She was in a "stable" condition.
In a separate outbreak, two other children were admitted to hospital on June 12 after picking up the bug while on holiday in Tunisia.
The disease was first spotted over the weekend, when two three-year-old children who attended the nursery were taken to hospital suffering from symptoms which included cramps, fever, nausea and bloody diarrhea.
E.coli infection can cause a complication called hemolytic uraemic syndrome, when the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail.
E.coli 0157 produces a powerful toxin and can cause severe stomach upsets. The elderly and young children are particularly vulnerable.
In the last decade, the number of cases in the UK has tripled from 361 in 1990 to more than 1,000 by 1997, according to the BBC.
Experts say that approximately 0.1% of the total bacteria within an adult's intestines (on a Western diet) is represented by E. coli. In a newborn infant's intestines, however, E.coli represents the most abundant bacterial flora.
In fact, the presence of E.coli and other kinds of bacteria within human intestines is necessary for people to develop and operate properly.
E.coli, along with other species of bacteria, provide people with many necessary vitamins, for example. The bacteria make the vitamins, and the body absorbs them. Humans depend upon E.coli in our intestines for Vitamin K and B-complex vitamins.
However, a rare strain of E.coli: E.coli O157:H7 causes hemorrhaging - and therefore, loss of blood. This strain is behind the recent of the disease – Albawaba.com
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