Two women and a girl of 12 have gone down with the potentially lethal stomach bacterium E-coli O157 after returning to Scotland from a holiday in Turkey.
Two of the three, who all live in central Fife, have been confirmed as having the bacterium, and the third case is suspected.
NHS Fife said yesterday they had been on holiday about a fortnight ago in the Aegean resort of Marmaris.
Dr Mike Roworth, consultant in public health medicine, said: "Our investigations are continuing as it is possible that other people at that resort may also have been affected."
The girl and the two women, both 35, are now recovering at home.
However, previous outbreaks have led to organ failure and even death, with the very young and old particularly at risk.
The incubation period for E-coli O157 is usually around one to 14 days and symptoms can include diarrhoea, feeling sick, vomiting, stomach pain and fever.
Dr Roworth stressed that the bacterium can spread easily, but by taking some simple precautions people can help reduce the risk of catching the infection.
He added: "Careful hand-washing, especially before eating, after using the toilet and before and after handling food, is one of the most effective methods.
"If you are abroad and have any doubts about whether local tap water is safe to drink, it's best to buy bottled water for drinking and cleaning your teeth, and avoid ice cubes."
Last year, there were 243 reported cases of E-coli O157 in Scotland. The worst outbreak in Scotland, and one of the worst in the world, occurred in 1996 in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, when 21 elderly people died.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article