Dozens sick as E. coli outbreak hits county Public health officials said yesterday that 26 people, most of them children, are believed to have contracted the E. coli bacterial infection in Middlesex County. Those people have either been hospitalized or otherwise sought medical attention in the county, and 24 tested positive for E. coli; two are pending lab results. The suspected source is food that was served at Taco Bell restaurants. Most of those who have fallen ill consumed food from the Taco Bell on Stelton Road in South Plainfield. Additionally, two employees from the South Plainfield restaurant have tested positive, based on stool samples that were obtained last Thursday. An epidemiologic investigation was implemented Tuesday on the two employees. The people infected are residents of Middlesex, Somerset and Monmouth counties, and Philadelphia, and are primarily children, although four adults were also infected. The age range for the patients is 1 to 23 years old. They have been treated at New Jersey hospitals including John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison, Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, also New Brunswick, and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark. The Middlesex County Public Health Department is continuing to investigate the source of the outbreak, although the Taco Bell restaurant in South Plainfield is suspected. Nineteen of the 26 victims ate at that Taco Bell, and another four ate at other area Taco Bells, though the local franchises in Milltown and Sayreville were not named as sources. There was no information about how the other three victims may have fallen ill. The South Plainfield fast food restaurant agreed to voluntarily shut down last Thursday until the source is identified. County health officials on Tuesday obtained food items that had been saved from one of the hospitalized patients, and those samples were sent to state labs for testing. Results were expected today or tomorrow. In the two most serious of the local E. coli cases, the victims have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a serious condition that can cause permanent kidney damage. One of those victims, along with three others, remained hospitalized yesterday. The E. coli 0157 strain, which also infected at least a dozen people on Long Island in the past week, often causes bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, and occasionally leads to kidney failure, according to the national Centers for Disease Control (CDC). People can become infected in a variety of ways. Though most illness has been associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef, people have also become ill from eating contaminated bean sprouts or fresh leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach. Person-to-person contact in families and child care centers is also a known mode of transmission. In addition, infection can occur after drinking raw milk and after swimming in or drinking sewage-contaminated water, according to the CDC. County health officials said a registered environmental health specialist was available for assistance at the South Plainfield Taco Bell earlier this week, and three additional specialists were to distribute fact sheet information on E. coli in South Plainfield. Middlesex County's health department received 96 phone calls on its hotline between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon. Its staff is continuing to field calls and interview residents as they are received. Concerned residents can also call the county health department at (732) 745-3100 with questions. Updated information is also available via the hotline at (732) 745-8995 and the Web site at co.middlesex.nj.us/publichealth.