7th E. coli case reported across border

WOODSTOCK, New Brunswick – Another case of E. coli has been reported in the Woodstock area, across the border from Maine, the Department of Health and Wellness said Tuesday.

The case, reported to the department late Monday, is the seventh to have been confirmed by the government in less than a month in the area.

Two weeks ago, the department said three cases of the disease had cropped up in an area between Hainesville and Centreville. On Aug. 12, the department confirmed three people in the nearby Millville area had contracted the disease earlier in the summer.

The strain of bacteria in the Millville cases, the department said, was E. coli 0157:H7, the same form of the disease behind a major E. coli outbreak that caused seven deaths in Walkerton, Ontario, in 2000, and sickened thousands more.

So far, officials have not found any link between the case reported Monday, which is being tested by federal officials, and the six reported earlier this summer, said department spokeswoman Carole Payne.