From: Mike Birr
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 9:05 AM
Subject: Health Officials Warn Not To Play In Floodwater
Boy's E. coli Might Have Come From Floodwater
Health Officials Warn Not To Play In Floodwater
UPDATED: 8:35 pm CDT June 27, 2008
RICHLAND CENTER, Wis. -- University of Wisconsin Hospital officials said a
6-year-old boy with a life-threatening kidney disease might have been infected
while playing in contaminated floodwater.
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Dr. Ellen Wald, a UW hospital infectious disease specialist, said the child has
been on dialysis and in intensive care since Sunday. She said he will probably
stay in the hospital for at least a week.
It's the first known health problem possibly linked to widespread flooding in
Wisconsin earlier this month.
Authorities and health officials are again warning residents that sewage plants
were overwhelmed during the storms and water might be contaminated with
bacteria. They have also said that water can be contaminated by animal waste and
that the E. coli bacteria grows quickly after flooding due to the standing
water, WISC-TV reported.
"At this time when there's been flooding of creeks, its probably not a good
playground for kids, just because I think children have their hands in the water
then they have their hands in their mouth and I think that's the way they could
ingest it," said Wald.
Wald said the boy started vomiting three days after playing in a flooded creek
near his home in Richland Center. He was first taken to the hospital in Richland
Center before being transferred to Madison.
She said a test for E. coli 0157 was negative, but doctors think he has another,
hard-to-detect strain of the bacteria.
Wald is encouraging anyone coming in contact with the floodwaters to wash both
your hands and clothes with soap and water or bleach to kill the bacteria.
Doctors said the boy's siblings also ended up with E. coli but the less serious
forms of it. They have since been treated and released.