Another case of Shigella bacterial infection linked to Tanganyika, health officials say

Another case of the bacterial disease Shigella has been linked to Tanganyika Wildlife Park’s splash park in Goddard, bringing the total to seven, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Wednesday.

All seven people visited the park on June 11.

“KDHE became aware of the ... Shigella cases’ association with Tanganyika on June 18,” the KDHE said in a news release. “The Splash Park has remained closed since June 19.”

Earlier this month, the KDHE said people who attended the splash park have also tested positive for the norovirus, sapovirus and a type of E. coli called enteropathogenic E. coli. That same day, an amended lawsuit filed against the park for its handling of the outbreak added more people to the suit, bringing the total to 47 plaintiffs.

Those people allege they became “violently ill and suffered repeated bouts of vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and fever and other symptoms due to the negligence and/or carelessness” of the park, the lawsuit says.

Shigella is a bacteria that spreads from person-to-person through exposure to contaminated feces.

“DNA fingerprinting was performed on Shigella bacteria from two cases who reside in different counties, using a standardized laboratory and data analysis method called whole genome sequencing (WGS),” the news release said. “WGS gives investigators detailed information about the bacteria causing illness. In this investigation, WGS showed that bacteria isolated from these two cases were closely related genetically. This means that they likely share a common source of infection. WGS testing could not be performed for the remaining five cases.”

Health officials are also asking anyone who visited the park between May 28 and June 19 to fill out a survey, available at tinyurl.com/kssplash.

“It is important for us to get information from those who became ill as well as those that did not become ill,” the release said.

On June 19, the park wrote on Facebook that the splash park was being closed due to a filtration system problem and that they are “working diligently to remedy the issue.”

“The splash park is a new adventure for us animal people, and it was an issue we could not foresee,” the post said. “We plan to notify everyone as soon as we have a set date for opening.”

The post has more than 1,000 comments, including many people reporting children being sick or even hospitalized.

Since the splash park closed, Sedgwick County has worked with the park to make improvements to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Model Aquatic Health Code, the news release said.