Dallas County health officials are investigating up to seven possible cases of E. coli involving children, some of whom have become seriously ill and required treatment in intensive care units.
Investigators are examining whether the illnesses could be connected to visits to the State Fair of Texas, particularly its petting zoo. However, health officials emphasize that neither the cases nor a connection to the fair has been confirmed.
“We have learned that there are multiple families that have very sick children in two different hospitals in the Dallas area,” said Mary McGonigle-Martin, vice president of Parker’s Promise, a nonprofit that supports families whose children have been hospitalized with serious infections such as E. coli…