Bacteria in water at Okla. E. coli outbreak site

OKLAHOMA CITY—Bacterial contamination has been found in well water at a northeast Oklahoma restaurant linked to an E. coli outbreak that killed a man and sickened dozens of others, state health officials said Friday.

Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Skylar McElhaney said that more tests are needed to see if the bacteria found in the water includes the strain of E. coli implicated in the outbreak.

"While we cannot say this is the source of the outbreak, we also cannot rule it out," McElhaney said in an e-mail.

The outbreak connected to the Country Cottage restaurant in the town of Locust Grove sickened 116 people, and about 50 of those required hospitalization, health officials said.

Chad Ingle, 26, died Sunday, a week after eating at the restaurant. Several children sickened have needed dialysis treatment due to kidney failure.

McElhaney said the samples tested were from the restaurant property and that there is no evidence that residents' water is contaminated.

Larry Weatherford, a spokesman for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said officials aren't sure when they'll receive further test results, but it could be within 72 hours. Even then, they may not have all the answers.

"We see the well results as one piece of the puzzle and it's my understanding that they (the restaurant) were only on well water for two hours of one day," he said.

The cause of the contamination is unknown. Sewer leaks, runoff from agricultural waste and improper well maintenance and disinfection are common causes of bacterial contamination.