PUBLIC NOTICE
- E. COLI BACTERIA -
LITTLE BIG HORN RIVER & SWIM SPOTS
On Sunday, July 16, 2017, water samples were collected at multiple sites of the Little Bighorn River, including the Crow Fair swim hole.
The concentration of E. coli bacteria at the swim hole was 66 colony forming units per 100 mls of water. This measurement by itself does not indicate a dangerous number of bacteria that would be predictive of public health risk.
Bacteria from the swim hole were also grown on a special media that tests for the presence of E. coli O157:H7, a type of enterhemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC for short) that can cause serious diarrhea and potentially life-threatening complications.
Growth of bacteria on this media, and a first round of genetic PCR testing indicates the presence of EHEC bacteria in the Crow Fair swim hole.
Children who have developed diarrhea or other gastrointestinal illness believed to be caused by swimming in the Little Bighorn River are at risk for having been exposed to EHEC bacteria. This information should be passed on to local doctors seeing the children, so that appropriate followup clinical testing can be performed.
Please note that the scientist conducting this testing of the water from the Little Bighorn, Dr. Steve Hamner, works in a university research lab.
This lab is not a certified or licensed clinical diagnostics lab or public health lab. Our research data is not a substitute for clinical diagnostic testing that should be carried out by a licensed facility when the patient is seen by a doctor or clinic.
This testing data is being released only as a precautionary measure for patients and family members to discuss with their doctors. It is not uncommon for EHEC bacteria to be found in public waterways near cattle ranching, and we do not know whether the EHEC bacteria we have detected will indeed cause disease.
The concentration of E. coli bacteria at the swim hole was 66 colony forming units per 100 mls of water. This measurement by itself does not indicate a dangerous number of bacteria that would be predictive of public health risk.
Bacteria from the swim hole were also grown on a special media that tests for the presence of E. coli O157:H7, a type of enterhemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC for short) that can cause serious diarrhea and potentially life-threatening complications.
Growth of bacteria on this media, and a first round of genetic PCR testing indicates the presence of EHEC bacteria in the Crow Fair swim hole.
Children who have developed diarrhea or other gastrointestinal illness believed to be caused by swimming in the Little Bighorn River are at risk for having been exposed to EHEC bacteria. This information should be passed on to local doctors seeing the children, so that appropriate followup clinical testing can be performed.
Please note that the scientist conducting this testing of the water from the Little Bighorn, Dr. Steve Hamner, works in a university research lab.
This lab is not a certified or licensed clinical diagnostics lab or public health lab. Our research data is not a substitute for clinical diagnostic testing that should be carried out by a licensed facility when the patient is seen by a doctor or clinic.
This testing data is being released only as a precautionary measure for patients and family members to discuss with their doctors. It is not uncommon for EHEC bacteria to be found in public waterways near cattle ranching, and we do not know whether the EHEC bacteria we have detected will indeed cause disease.