New Paisley E coli case
Morrisons is "cooperating" with authorities
Also In The News
|
A temporary control zone has been put in place at a farm in Kent by animal health officers investigating the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease. |  |
Friday, 17, Aug 2007 07:37
Another person has been hospitalised in the Paisley E coli outbreak, it emerged today.
An 81-year-old woman is being treated at Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley, officials said. Her condition is stable.
They confirmed she had eaten cold meats purchased from the deli counter of one of the two Morrisons stores linked to the outbreak.
One person, a 66-year-old woman, died on Monday as a result of contracting the bug. Her 72-year-old husband remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
A 70-year-old woman from Paisley is stable in a Northern Ireland hospital and a 71-year-old woman has been cleared for discharge and will return home on Monday. Four others are recovering at home.
Dr Syed Ahmed, chairman of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's outbreak control team, said: "From a public health point of view it is encouraging that all confirmed cases so far consumed deli meat before the outbreak was identified on Monday August 13th.
"While there is still no conclusive evidence, we believe that cold cooked meats from Morrisons' Lonend and Falside Road branches are still the most likely vehicles of infection and no other food, from Morrisons or elsewhere, has been implicated so far."
The investigation to establish the cause of the outbreak has extended to cover other E coli outbreaks in Scotland and England, however. None of these are yet to be linked to the Paisley outbreak.
In a statement issued on Tuesday Morrisons, Britain's fourth largest grocer, said it was "deeply saddened" to learn of the death of an elderly patient and added it was "working closely" with the authorities following the scare.
Today's latest case, the ninth so far, is the first instance of a patient falling ill with E coli 0157 in Paisley since Tuesday.