Nine people sick from E coli linked to raw cheese from California farm, more than half of them children

The FDA identified Raw Farm as a ‘likely source’ of the E coli outbreak. Photograph: David Tonelson/Alamy

A California raw milk dairy that was previously linked to a fatal outbreak of bird flu in cats has now been linked to an E coli outbreak involving cheddar cheese, affecting nine people in three states.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an alert that more than half of the people sickened so far are children under age five. Three people have been hospitalized after contracting a dangerous strain of E coli – O157:H7 – with one developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that can lead to kidney failure.