Mum’s desperate plea for E.coli awareness New outbreak frightens families across Scotland
Lucy and son Bo’s life was changed for ever after he was struck down by the deadly E.coli bug. break, said he had not seen any evidence his products were unsafe.
In total, 22 people have been diagnosed with E. coli, 13 of whom required hospital treatment.
A three- year- old girl from Bearsden, near Glasgow, died from complications linked to the infection on September 2.
In Carnoustie yesterday some mums and dads criticised the lack of transparency around the outbreak.
“Information seems to be dripping out in dribs and drabs,” one told us.
Dr Alison Smith- Palmer of the multi-agency Incident Management Team ( IMT ) investigating the national outbreak, said Errington’s Dunsyre Blue cheese remained the most likely cause.
“To date, the IMT has established that 19 of the 22 confirmed cases had eaten blue cheese prior to becoming ill,” she said. “Of these, 15 are known to have eaten Dunsyre Blue.”
The sale of products made by Errington Cheese, of Carnwath, Lanarkshire, was banned by food tsars last week.
Humphrey Errington, owner of the firm, has insisted all along that no traces of the potentially lethal bug have been found in its products.
“I would like to re- confirm my position that all the testing we have carried out on our cheese has found no trace of E.coli 0157,” Mr Errington said in a statement.
Steve Nash, co- founder of the E. coli support group Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome Help ( HUSH), said: “There seems to be a lot of uncertainty over the test results.
“In the last few years the level of testing on some of the large outbreaks has been pretty poor.
“There have been cases where authorities have not been able to identify the source.
“The authorities in this case should action then there could be a clampdown on any information coming out that could prejudice a court case.
The details of the child who died have emerged slowly. We don’t know the full facts and we may have to wait until either there’s a court case or a fatal accident inquiry.
Some of the results released by FSS are preliminary and are still obviously a work in be looking to pin down the source positively.
“If they do that then hopefully there will be things we can learn to prevent something similar happening in future.”
At her home in North Kelvinside, Glasgow, Bo’s mum continues to follow the current headlines with a feeling of alarm.
She had to move to the new property from Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, so as to be near the Royal Hospital for Children where Bo receives his ongoing care.
As a result of his infection, he attends dialysis three times a week and suffers complications which have meant two recent emergency admissions to A& E at the Royal Hospital for Children.
“The future is equally frightening as it was the day he was admitted,” she said last night. “The legacy of E.coli continues for Bo.”