12/14/2004
Associated Press
An outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness has sickened at least seven children at a southern Indiana day care center, Jackson County health officials said Tuesday.
County health officer Dr. Kenneth Bobb said the confirmed cases of shigellosis were in children age 3 to 8, but other confirmed and suspected cases were being investigated.
None of the cases of the illness, which is spread by oral contact with an infected person’s fecal material, are considered life-threatening, he said.
“The infection is easily passed from one person to another and is very serious in babies, older adults and people who are not well,” Bobb said.
He said the cases were all in a Seymour daycare center that he declined to name, saying the outbreak is not the fault of officials at the center in the city about 60 miles south of Indianapolis.
Adult workers at the daycare center have not tested positive for the illness. Bobb said the health department was investigating several other suspected cases.
Shigellosis, which infects the large intestines, causes diarrhea, as well as fever and abdominal cramps or tenderness.
In some people, especially young children and the elderly, diarrhea can be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized.
Information from: The Tribune