Regrettably, one of the more common holiday illness complaints received is E-Coli o157.  This link provides a fully summary of the disease, the following provides an overview as the effect of E-Coli o157:

1. Incubation period: 1 to 6 days
2. Common clinical features: Haemorrhagic colitis, haemolytic uraemic syndrome
3. Reservoir: It is found in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle and possibly other domesticated animals
4. Transmission: Humans become infected through the consumption of contaminated foods, particularly inadequately cooked minced beef (often in the form of undercooked beef burgers), milk (unpasteurised and contaminated post pasteurisation), and vegetables have been associated with cases or outbreaks. However, outbreaks have been associated also with yogurt, cooked meats, meat pies, cheese; dry cured salami, raw vegetables, unpasteurised apple juice and water. Person to person spread can occur by direct contact (faecal oral), particularly in households, nurseries, and infant schools. Contact with infected animals, particularly on farms or in animal sanctuaries.
5. Other relevant features:VTEC gives rise to a haemorrhagic colitis and about 5% of cases progress to the haemolytic uraemic syndrome, whose case fatality rate is about 10%

It is very important that if when you return to the UK, you are suffering with any diarrhoeal illness, that you seek urgent medical attention.  It is also very important that you do not compromise any potential claim that you may have and we would also suggest that you contact us for further assistance.

If you have been affected by E-Coli O157 holiday complaints, then please contact us at HolidayTravelWatch.

For further details on our services, read our Legal Notice.

Tags: E-Coli O157

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Holiday Illness and Infection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.