'They're terribly ill': 56 E. coli cases now linked to outbreak at Calgary daycares

Alberta Health Services (AHS) says there are now more than 50 confirmed cases of E. coli linked to an outbreak at several Calgary-area daycares.

Sarah MacDonald's four-year-old son came home from daycare on Thursday with a fever. The next day, his symptoms intensified.

"The diarrhea was just so extreme, every 20 minutes, sometimes more often than that," MacDonald said.

At the hospital, E. coli was confirmed.

MacDonald's son is one of 56 lab-confirmed cases, all connected to 11 daycares in the Calgary area.

Sarah MacDonald's four-year-old son came home from daycare with a fever. The next day, his symptoms intensified. At the hospital, E. coli was confirmed.

So far, 50 kids have shown up at hospital and 15 have been admitted.

"This is just one of the most awful things I've lived through," MacDonald said.

"Watching these little kids for hours, they're in terrible pain, they're terribly ill, it's affecting their organs."

The affected facilities are all closed.

That includes six Fueling Brains Academy locations, along with Braineer Academy, Kidz Space, Little Oak Early Education, Almond Branch School and Vik Academy in Okotoks.

All of them use a catering service called Fueling Minds, which is the same company as Fueling Brains.

Katie McLean's two-year-old daughter is also in hospital.

"We pay our daycares to keep our kids safe and now it feels like they weren't safe, which is really, really devastating and kind of disturbing," she said.

Closed are six Fueling Brains Academy locations, along with Braineer Academy, Kidz Space, Little Oak Early Education, Almond Branch School and Vik Academy in Okotoks. All of them use a catering service called Fueling Minds, which is the same company as Fueling Brains.

E. coli symptoms such as bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain and nausea and vomiting typically appear one to 10 days after eating the contaminated food.

"We've kind of narrowed it down that all the kids were there on Tuesday, they served meatloaf for lunch, so, that's our suspicion," McLean said.

Fueling Brains Academy says AHS notified it about the outbreak on Sunday afternoon.

It says it doesn't know the source of the contamination, but notes that its schools are going through a deep cleaning, which could take up to a week.

"We will be reviewing our policies, procedures and sourcing related to food services for our facilities," the company said in a statement.

"The health and safety of our children, parents and staff has always been our priority. We recognize this is a difficult situation for our families and we're providing all available information to them and our staff as frequently as we're able."

Lawrence Goodridge, a professor of food safety at the University of Guelph, tells CTV News that most children will recover from the illness on their own, without treatment, but warns some could develop serious complications.

"Which can cause a disease called hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can lead to damage to the kidney, up to and including a kidney transplant or even death," he said.

Many of the sick kids are getting daily blood tests to monitor for this.

"We're kind of on eggshells. (My son) is looking better, but we need to clear this hurdle to make sure that he doesn't develop this condition," MacDonald said.

AHS urges parents with children who attend these daycares to contact 811 if their child develops symptoms and to see a doctor if they have severe symptoms like bloody diarrhea.