One death reported in relation to pumpkin patch outbreak in California

San Luis Obispo County Public Health confirmed on Nov. 10, that one person tied to the E. coli O157 outbreak linked to Brookshire Farms has died.

Department spokesman Tom Cuddy told The Tribune that “one individual associated with the E. coli outbreak has died,” and that the county was sharing the news with the family’s permission. The county offered its condolences and gave no age and no other details about the person.

The official outbreak count has not changed since Friday. The county’s Nov. 6 closing release lists five people with laboratory-confirmed Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157, all of whom visited Brookshire Farms on Oct. 17 or 18, and 10 more who visited between Oct. 16 and 26, became ill and are counted as suspect cases.

The Oct. 30 release also reported that three children had developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the kidney failure that is the most feared complication of an E. coli O157 infection.

The county has not said whether the person who died was one of the five confirmed cases or one of the ten suspect cases. It has not said whether the person was one of the three children with HUS.

The county announced it was wrapping up its investigation on Nov. 6, about five and a half hours after the farm reopened. Its findings, in its own release said:

“The bacteria from three of the five confirmed patients matched each other by genetic testing and did not closely match anything in national databases, which the county said strongly suggests ‘a common and unique source.’ A fourth test was pending. A fifth could not be done.

“Water, food and other environmental samples from the farm did not find E. coli O157. Other strains of E. coli were found in some samples.

“Sampling was limited by the number of possible sources, the absence of testable items and the delay between exposure and sampling. No further environmental testing is planned.”

Edible corn cups, pumpkins, hay and non-potable water sources were common to the people who became ill. None was identified as the source.

No farm animals or petting zoo were open to the public.

Health Officer Dr. Christy Mulkerin said that a negative environmental result is not unexpected, because contamination is often temporary and hard to detect, and that the clinical and epidemiological evidence still points to a short-lived shared exposure.

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