E. Coli Outbreak Widens Seven Confirmed Cases Tied To Ymca Facility

The Spokane Regional Health District still is trying to track down the source of the E. coli bacteria at the YMCA day-care center that now have sickened seven children.

The district identified on Tuesday 15 more children and family members with symptoms who will be tested further for the sometimes-deadly bacteria, said Dr. Kim Thorburn, health officer for the health district.

“This is a very serious outbreak,” she said. “The numbers are big.”

Seven children have become sick from E. coli, but only one has been hospitalized. The 23-month-old girl still was in serious condition at Deaconess Medical Center Tuesday, but her condition had improved, officials said.

Five of the sick children go to the YMCA day-care center, and the other two are related to children cared for at the center.

The health district believes all seven cases are linked, Thorburn said. The state lab will use DNA fingerprinting to determine that for sure.

Health district investigators have been working like detectives since the outbreak was reported, looking for a microscopic culprit. They’re testing samples of Play-Doh, sand and soil collected at the YMCA.

The YMCA pool has been tested, and it’s come out clean. Food-handling procedures are being checked. Toy hygiene is being examined.

“Still, there are no red flags standing out,” Thorburn said.

The facility remained open Tuesday, and only a couple of parents had removed their children.

At the center, Katherine Clark rocked her 8-month-old son, Damein, in the infant room as he sucked on a Winnie the Pooh pacifier. He started attending day care at the YMCA a couple of weeks ago.

Clark said she liked and trusted the YMCA despite the E. coli outbreak.

“It makes me kind of nervous,” Clark said. “I think it would any parent.”

By Tuesday, county health inspectors had reached the parents of about 120 of the 154 kids at the day-care center, trying to make sure every child with symptoms is tested for E. coli 0157:H7.

That’s how inspectors found 15 more children and family members with symptoms, such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever.

The district will compare these possible cases with confirmed cases. Investigators will look at all the cases and the rooms where the children were watched. They will pore over the day-care center’s floor map, a complicated maze of 11 rooms sprawling through the YMCA building. Four of the confirmed sick children were in the center’s toddler rooms, for children between 1 and 2. A fifth child was a brother of one of the toddlers, cared for in a room for children between ages 2 and 3.

The two children who weren’t in day care at the YMCA were linked to the center. One child was a cousin of the two brothers who caught the bacteria.

A 6-year-old girl who got sick Feb. 13 has a younger sister who attends the YMCA center. The younger sister isn’t sick.

“I don’t know how it got from my other daughter to here, or from here to my other daughter,” said the children’s father, who was standing in a toddler room at the YMCA. He didn’t want to be identified.

He held his 13-month-old daughter in his arms. She chewed on her jacket zipper. The little girl has tested negative for E. coli twice since her sister tested positive last week. Her older sister has since recovered and tested negative, and she will probably go back to school today.

“I’m very much a worrywart,” the man said. “My first thought was, people die from that.”

The same E. coli bacteria killed three people and sickened 600 in Washington in a 1993 outbreak tied to undercooked fast-food burgers.

Although the bacteria is often spread through undercooked meat, it also can be spread by unwashed vegetables contaminated by raw beef or by unpasteurized juice. It’s spread further by fecal-oral contact, when people don’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

“Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands,” repeated Dr. Paul Stepak, epidemiologist at the Spokane health district.

Children especially are an easy target for E. coli. They stick their hands in their diapers, in their hair, in everything.

“Toddlers have very poor control of their hygiene,” Stepak said. “They’re innocent little things.”

At the YMCA on Tuesday, children played submarine with graham crackers dunked in apple juice. They wiped their hands on their shirts, or their pants, or just stuck them in their mouths.

Staff members poured juice wearing gloves. They cleaned tables so quickly they didn’t have time to get dirty. The whole place smelled like a blend of children and bleach.

The day-care center has tried to tell everyone about the steps it’s taking to prevent the bacteria’s spread.

Toys are now being washed daily, instead of weekly. Pillows and stuffed animals have been thrown away.

Despite precautions, parent Marla Emde took her daughter home, at least for a week. Martina Emde, who is 20 months old, was watched in the same room as two of the sick children.

“I’m just praying every day now that she doesn’t have it,” Emde said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo Graphic: E.coli 0157:H7 primer

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Who to call Parents with questions about the day-care center are asked to call YMCA Executive Director Rich Wallis at 838-3577, extension 28.

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Kim Barker Staff writer Staff writer Kelly McBride contributed to this report.