Seven more people have been diagnosed with E coli following an outbreak at a primary school – while staff prepare to re-open for classes next week.

Eleven people from Feltham Hill Infant and Nursery School, in Bedfont Road, Feltham, have been confirmed with the bug – along with one pupil from the nearby Feltham Hill Junior School.

Parents criticised the Health Protection Agency (HPA) for not closing the junior school – which is on the same site – after it shut the infant school on February 3.

A spokeswoman for the HPA said: “This junior school pupil was excluded from school on February 3 when a sibling had symptoms. There is no case of onward transmission at the school.”

Parents were asked to destroy any exercise books that have been at home since January, and throw away all water bottles and book bags.

I don’t know what it is with baby nurseries and what I guess Americans would call daycare for the older kids in the U.K., but there are way too many outbreaks of E. coli O157.

The Hounslow Chronicle reports that as many as 25 pupils at Feltham Hill Infant & Nursery School are believed to have been infected by the E. coli bug.

A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency today said there were now five confirmed cases of the O157 strain, with another seven presumed positive and 13 'symptomatic' cases, which are still being investigated. She could not confirm whether everyone who had been infected was a pupil at the school in Bedfont Road.

Today, it was reported that a second nursery in Feltham has closed following a suspected outbreak of E. coli.

Once Upon a Time Nursery, in Ashford Road, closed on Friday after 11 children suffered diarrhoea and vomiting, which are symptoms of the infection.

A spokeswoman for the HPA said it was too early to say whether the infection is related to the E. coli outbreak or is an outbreak of norovirus, which has similar symptoms and is common at this time of the year.
 

There aren’t enough castles with moats.

At least not anymore.

But Cardiff Castle in Wales, which dates back to 3rd century Romans, has a lovely moat constructed by the Normans to fend off the locals as they pillaged their way across what is now the U.K.

The food has been uneventful, all of it served piping hot as the Brits suffer through their worst snow and cold in 30 years. To watch the constant news and weather reports on BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 4, and Sky News – there is one movie channel that seems to feature bad 1980s American fare – and read the newspaper accounts, the country is in chaos and everything has been shut for at least two days.

We drove from Cardiff to Manchester when people were told to stay off the roads and it was completely uneventful, what with the couple of inches of snow. Guess they aren’t used to that around here.

Some attempted to escape the weather, only to end up barfing.

USA Today today reports that Britain's Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has ordered an early end to a cruise to the Canary Islands after a massive outbreak of what is believed to be norovirus.

The UK's Daily Mail reports at least 289 of 795 passengers on Fred Olsen's Boudicca this week have been struck down by the illness. At 36% of passengers, it's one of the most widespread outbreaks of a norovirus-like illness recorded on a cruise ship in years. Even the worst outbreaks of norovirus rarely spread beyond 10% of passengers.

The outbreak, moreover, is the third in a row for the ship and comes as another Fred Olsen vessel, the Balmoral, also struggles with a major outbreak of norovirus-like illness -- it's third in a year.

Mum-of-two Nina McLaren and her best friend Jodie Davies, both from Flint, became seriously ill after spending four days in the Spanish  resort of Benidorm last month.

In total, 14 holidaymakers contracted E.coli O157 after  stays in Benidorm during November.

Now travel lawyers at Irwin Mitchell, along with the Health Protection Agency, have launched an investigation into the source of the bacteria.

27-year-old Jodie told the Daily Post:

“The whole ordeal has been so distressing and painful that I really do wish we had never gone on holiday at all, it feels like we haven’t had one.  … To learn that there were so many other people that fell ill with the same thing is a real worry. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone so it’s a relief to hear that there is an investigation into where the source was.”