UPDATE 1-Nine Deaths Probed In Ontario E. Coli Outbreak...05/31/00

TORONTO, (Reuters) - Deadly E. coli bacteria that tainted a small Ontario town's drinking water may have killed as many as nine people, the Canadian province's chief coroner told a news conference on Wednesday.

Two of the cases the Ontario coroner's office is investigating occurred before the outbreak, in the town of Walkerton, was generally known of, Chief Coroner James Young said. Seven deaths, including two on Tuesday, have been linked to the E. coli bug by hospital officials.

"As of this morning we are investigating nine deaths. I want to emphasise that some of these deaths may not have been caused by the E. coli bacteria," Young said.

Eight of the deaths being probed were of people from 56 to 92, while one is known to be a two-year-old girl.

"But let me be quite clear: just because we are investigating a death does not mean it was caused by E. coli," Young added.

The coroner's office was encouraging families of those who may have died from symptoms resembling E. coli before the epidemic was widely known to call provincial police.

Symptoms include fever, severe cramping, diarrhoea and vomiting. It can take two to 10 days for symptoms to appear and normally about a week for patients to recover. The illness kills about 5 percent of its victims by overcoming their kidneys.

A hospital in London, Ontario, near Walkerton, confirmed that the outbreak had claimed a seventh life in Canada's worst outbreak of the illness, hospital officials said on Wednesday. Ontario's London Health Sciences Centre, where three small children remain critically ill, reported that a seventh person died late on Tuesday but gave no details.

The death toll from the Walkerton epidemic had risen to six earlier on Tuesday when an elderly woman died at the South Bruce Grey Health Centre in the grieving town, which lies about 125 miles (200 km) northwest of Toronto, media reports said.

The coroner said on Wednesday morning that he had confirmed at least three deaths as being a direct result of E. coli.

More than 1,000 of Walkerton's 5,000 residents have reported symptoms similar to those caused by E. coli.

E. coli (Escherichia coli) is usually found in the intestines of humans and animals. Some strains -- like the often lethal 0157 variety that hit Walkerton -- can cause dangerous, even life-threatening infections.

Officials do not yet know exactly how the deadly bug got into the water but suspect recent heavy rains may have washed E-coli-infected manure into the farming community's system.

The E. coli outbreak has shattered Walkerton's peace and left its residents shaken and angry. Townspeople have accused civic officials of a cover-up, and health officials have charged that the local utilities commission knew as early as mid-May that the tap water was contaminated but failed to warn the public of the danger.

The Ontario Provincial Police, the coroner's office and the provincial Environment Ministry have all launched probes into the contamination.

James Young said that a coroner's inquest will only proceed once the provincial police have conducted their enquiries.

Meanwhile, media reports said that the town of Shelburne, Ontario, has found E-coli in water samples from one well which they have since shut down. However, the bacteria has not been found in the general water distribution system, the Canadian Press reported.