AMY, 4, DIES AFTER TEN DAY E COLI BATTLE; Tragedy at farm.
A TODDLER has become the latest victim of the deadly E Coli bug.Two-year-old Amy Jones died in hospital 10 days after falling ill at her family's remote farmhouse home in Alvah, Banffshire.
Her pig farmer dad Michael Jones and mum Sarah Calam, were too upset to talk last night as health bosses tested their farm for the infection - which is not thought to be food related.
Amy was rushed to a medical centre in nearby Macduff 10 days ago before being transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary then the Sick Children's Hospital in Yorkhill, Glasgow.
She died last Thursday from kidney failure.
Health bosses say the English couple's three older children are not infected.
Dr Arun Mukerjee of Grampian Health Board said yesterday: "Our communicable diseases team is liaising closely with Aberdeenshire Council Environmental Health colleagues to investigate the cause."
Amy's death came before tomorrow's Scottish task force meeting of bug busters in Glasgow.
Among them are Aberdeen University's Professor Hugh Pennington, who reported on the Lanarkshire E Coli outbreak in 1996 which killed 21 OAPs.
That outbreak - the world's worst - centred around local butcher John Barr and Son.
Although rare before the 1980s, the bug has struck frequently in recent years.
It passes from animal dung into the food chain by un-washed hands, rare meat and unpasteurised dairy produce.
Children needed dialysis in 1994 after drinking milk from a West Lothian dairy.
Last June goat's cheese infected three children in Macduff then this June sheep droppings infected 18 scouts camping in Aberdeenshire.
Tomorrow's task force will look at the growing cases of E Coli infection from animals rather than food.
Professor Pennington said: "I am sorry to hear about Amy but I am not surprised as Grampian has the worst E Coli record in Scotland."
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| Author: | Dow, Bob |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Sep 27, 2000 |
| Words: | 296 |
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