Three children remain seriously ill after outbreak of E Coli

THE family of one of the young children left seriously ill after an outbreak of the bug E Coli last night spoke of their “living hell”.

Three children remain seriously ill in hospital after contracting the bug in what could be the largest ever outbreak spread by animals.

Twelve children from the south of England, all aged under 10, who visited Godstone Farm in Surrey, have contracted the dangerous O157 strain of the illness.

Neil Wilson, the uncle of one of the sick children, said: “It’s been a living hell, it seems quite surreal going in and seeing him and each day seeing him getting worse and worse, feeding tubes and blood going in. It’s just awful, it’s been an absolute nightmare.”

Four of the youngsters were initially described as being seriously ill, but the Health Protection Agency said last night the condition of one had improved.

A spokeswoman said: “We have had no new cases reported today.

“Twelve children remain in hospital. Of those, three remain seriously ill.

“Six remain stable and three children who were being looked after in paediatric units in London have recovered sufficiently to be moved to hospitals nearer their homes.” The HPA said the outbreak, thought to have started on August 8, could be Britain’s largest where the virus has been transmitted by animals. There have been 36 cases reported in total.