Posted: June 21st, 2009 - 10:27pm by Ben Chapman

As the Nestle-linked E. coli O157:H7 outbreak unfolds in the upcoming days, stories about affected individuals highlighting the fallout will begin to appear. In the first one I have seen, the Oregonian reports that 15-year-old girl's craving for a treat resulted in her and her fathers illness.

Melissa made the cookies in early May. While baking, she tasted some of the dough, which a lot of people do even though it is not supposed to be eaten before baking. Her dad, 37-year-old day, Mike Kitchens, stuck his finger into the bowl as well, picking out sweet chocolate bits. The two of them soon came down with cramping and diarrhea, typical symptoms of food poisoning. Mike recovered after about four days but Melissa continued to be severely ill.

Melissa was quoted as saying "It was hard for me to do my work, I'd call my friends, but I'd get hot and sweaty and my stomach would cramp up. I tried to deal with it, but it got too be too much so I couldn't do anything. I had major headaches, diarrhea and cramping." She did manage to take all of her tests, but she suspects that she failed at least two finals which count heavily in overall grades.