E. Coli Toll Now Greater than 1,000

September 20, 1999

As health officials announced 1,013 reported cases in New York from the E. coli epidemic, investigators traced the bacteria to a well on a fairgrounds site that may have been contaminated by runoff from the fair's dairy barn.

REUTERS reports that nine children were among those recovering from a severe kidney ailment associated with the bacteria. Two people have died and 65 have been hospitalized sin the epidemic started late last month.

Bacteria were found in a well at the Washington County fairgrounds in Greenwich, NY, which hosted a fair Aug. 28-29. New York state officials have said the bacteria were traced to the fairgrounds well that supplied non-chlorinated water to seven vendors at the fair as well as a nearby restroom.

Investigators suspect that pools of water that collected in nearby dairy barns after heavy rains became contaminated by the E. coli, then seeped into the ground water that feeds the well.

Another widespread E. coli outbreak sickened more than 300 people in central Illinois. They had attended a party in a cow pasture near Springfield earlier this month.