An estimated 2,100 hospitalizations and 61 deaths are attributed to E. coli illnesses each year in the United States, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Most people infected with the bacteria recover within five to seven days without treatment. Symptoms include severe diarrhea, vomiting and mild fever.

In Oklahoma, 44 cases of E. coli were reported in 2006. That was the highest annual number reported since 1994, when such reports became mandatory. The number of cases of E. coli rose 10 percent between 2005 and 2006. More recent numbers were not immediately available.

Children in Oklahoma have an E. coli disease rate six times higher than adults, according to the state Health Department. At least seven of the victims of the current outbreak are children, and many of them are on dialysis because of what’s believed to be temporary kidney failure, according to Dr. William Banner, pediatric intensivist at the Children’s Hospital at St. Francis in Tulsa.

Source: NewsOK.com.