E.coli warning for Scotland

The man heading the inquiry into Britain's worst E. coli outbreak warned yesterday that there could be an increase in the number of cases in Scotland this year.

Professor Hugh Pennington said it did not bode well that there had been so many outbreaks during the winter. The professor (left) is leading the government inquiry into the Lanarkshire E. coli outbreak which claimed the lives of 18 people at the end of last year. Since then, there have been smaller E. coli scares in Arbroath and in the Scottish Borders areas which, he said, had surprised him. "It is a quiet time of year for E.coli normally. It goes into a kind of hibernation in winter. It hasn't done this year." He added: "I think one has to plan on the assumption that it might get even a bit more common in the next year or two." The professor was talking in advance of his speech on E. coli to the Edinburgh International Science Festival.