At least 6 students at Erma B. Reese Elementary School in Lodi, California, may be part of an E. coli outbreak. To date, 2 students have laboratory-confirmed cases of the illness. One child, a second-grade student, was hospitalized last week with severe abdominal pain and diarrhea.
The San Joaquin County Health Department is investigating the outbreak. Although the health department says it has ruled out the school as the source of the outbreak, that does not mean the school does not have some responsibility for the outbreak.
For example, several years ago, an outbreak of illnesses in Minnesota were linked to raw milk served at a school picnic. The milk was brought to the picnic by a parent and not provided by the cafeteria, but the school had a responsibility to prevent dangerous food from being served to the children during school hours.
Owl pellets used in science classes have also been linked to outbreaks of illness. In one outbreak, parents alleged children were told: they did not need to wash their hands or sanitize their desks after they dissected owl pellets (regurgitated animal parts like teeth and bones that the owl can’t digest); and students ate snacks at their desks before washing their hands or sanitizing the desks.
School Opts to Wait to Tell Parents
Reese Elementary chose not to tell parents about the E. coli outbreak until now. One has to wonder why the school did not immediately warn parents of the risk of illness. Parents should have been given the choice whether to send their children to school before there was some assurance that the building was properly sanitized. Moreover, parents should have been told to watch for symptoms of E. coli, including diarrhea (turns bloody if there is colitis), abdominal cramping, nausea and vomiting.
