Cluster of 7 children in King County infected with toxin-producing E. coli May 5, 2021 at 3:08 pm A lab technician holds a bacteria culture that shows a positive infection of enterohemorrhagic E. coli, also known as the EHEC bacteria, from a patient at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf on June 2, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) The children, all under 14, were infected with Shinga toxin-producing E. coli., also known as STEC. The cases were reported between April 22 and May 1. Three of the children are under five. All the children developed symptoms consistent with STEC including diarrhea, abdominal cramping, nausea and vomiting. Six of the children were hospitalized, and one developed a kidney complication.