E. Coli outbreak in Oklahoma sickens 200 - kills 1

An E. coli outbreak linked to a restaurant in northeastern Oklahoma has sickened more than 200 people and killed at least one person, making it the largest outbreak of this strain of E. coli in U.S. history, according to health officials.

The Country Cottage restaurant in Locust Grove has been closed voluntarily for more than a week, but an exact source of the contamination has not been pinpointed, state epidemiologist Dr. Kristy Bradley said in a statement.

"The complexity of this outbreak and the necessity to be extremely thorough in our investigation means we still have more questions than answers," she said.

The state is testing food preparation and serving surfaces at the restaurant and interviewing those who became ill, Bradley said.

Health officials first reported the outbreak Aug. 25. The state Health Department said Tuesday that 206 people have become sick, including 53 children. Those sickened range in age from 2 months to 88 years.

At least one death has been linked to the Country Cottage E. coli outbreak in Oklahoma. Chad Ingle, a 26 year old from Pyror, Oklahoma, died on August 24, 2008, a week after eating at the restaurant.

The deadly E. coli outbreak in Oklahoma is now the largest such outbreak in US history.  It also turns out E. coli was not linked to bacteria found in the water used at the Country Cottage restaurant, as was suspected yesterday, the state Health Department said.  Officials are now saying that food at the restaurant is believed to be the culprit in this outbreak and there is “no reason think food outside the restaurant would be contaminated.”  Meanwhile, the number of victims continues to increase.  The state interviewed over 600 people and at least 206 have been sickened:  149 adults, 53 children, and four other people whose ages have not been confirmed. One man died.  Patient are between two months and 88 years of age, officials said.

Late last week, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality released test results indicating that potentially harmful bacteria were found in well water at Country Cottage.  Although Country Cottage typically operated on city water, it temporarily switched to its private well on August 10 after a city water line broke.  Tests on bacteria found in well water samples confirmed that the water could be unhealthy and could contain E. coli; however, the state Health Department confirmed no E. coli strains were present there.

Sheila Beaver, a Locust Grove woman whose family ate at Country Cottage on Aug. 19, said she took her 19-month-old daughter, Braylee Beaver, to the hospital nearly a week later after she developed a fever and severe diarrhea.

Beaver criticized state health officials for not shutting down the restaurant after the first illnesses were reported to the health department on Aug. 22. Even after a surprise inspection Aug. 23 that identified nine health code violations, the restaurant remained open Aug. 24, the day Ingle died.

"Once there were so many people who were sick that had eaten at Country Cottage, I think they should have at least shut it down," Beaver said. "When it's people's lives at stake, they should shut things down. This is a serious disease."

Stigma associated with an E. coli outbreak in Locust Grove reached a new height last week when the football team from nearby Wagoner refused to scrimmage Locust Grove apparently because the team feared its athletes would become ill.

Wagoner called off the scrimmage, which was to be held last Thursday in Locust Grove, because players or coaches there assumed Locust Grove was unclean and unhealthy, said Scott Martin, Locust Grove's football coach and athletic director.