Careshare Lauder Nursery in Dumfermline was cleared of any negligenceregarding the outbreak, which left five nursery children seriously illin May 2006. The board of NHS Fife received an Incident Control Team(ICT) report and an independent review last week.
Dr Mike Roworth, author of the report and chairman of the ICT team,said, 'Despite detailed and exhaustive investigation, we concluded thatit was not possible to say what the source of outbreak was, but the mostlikely scenario was a single introduction of the bacterium into theCareshare Lauder Nursery, followed by person-to-person spread.'
The report noted, 'Nurseries would need to have a standard of infectioncontrol approaching that in a surgical operating theatre in order toprevent the spread of E.coli 0157 infection. This is probablyunattainable, given the need for nurseries to provide social interactionand stimulation for children.'
The nursery re-opened after a specialist cleaning company took away 200yellow clinical waste sacks full of toys, linen and other items fordestruction.
Managing director of Careshare Jonathan Bell said, 'Thankfully, thechildren involved in last year's E.coli outbreak have made a fullrecovery.'
