The student newspaper at Penn State is reporting that an attendee to a tennis camp at PSU left early last week, and has been told that he had contracted E. coli. There is no confirmation that the illness was contracted at the camp. The report did not indicate the strain of E. coli to be E. coli O157:H7. It is fairly likely that this is the strain involved however, as it is one of very few, and in some cases the only strain, that is tested for and reported. According to the report:
Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said Penn State officials couldn’t confirm that the camper contracted the illness while at Penn State. University officials will meet this afternoon to discuss the situation, she said.
A natural question is whether any other attendees of the camp were ill. It does appear that other campers reported digestive problems, but there is not yet any indication of other reports of E. coli. A single commons provides food for all attendees at the university’s sports camps.
In 2002, a number of attendees at a dance camp at Eastern Washington University developed E. coli O157:H7 infections eventually traced to lettuce served in the university kitchens.