A butcher's shop is set to re-open after an E.coli outbreak in Cottingley as another child was confirmed to have contracted the bug.

Bradford Council's environmental health department has given D G Spauls' butchers in the Parade, Cottingley, the all-clear to re-open following its closure since May 9 while officers probed an outbreak of severe food poisoning in the village.

Two children are now among 13 confirmed cases of E.coli 0157 and another child is among four people who are likely to be confirmed in the next few days. Another two children are waiting for results.

Darren Spauls, who runs the butcher's shop in Cottingley was unable to say exactly when the shop would re-open yesterday.

But health chiefs say the shop, which has undergone a deep clean in the intervening days, is now ready to re-open.

Consultant in Communicable Disease Control Dr Graham Sutton, of the West Yorkshire Unit of the Health Protection Agency (HPA), said: "We are now confident that Spauls' butchers, who have co-operated fully with the investigation, can re-open to the general public.

"However, we are continuing to recommend that, as a precautionary measure, anyone who bought cooked meat at the shop prior to its closure should dispose of it in their household waste.

"Investigations to identify the source of the infection are continuing and a number of samples from contacts are still being tested."

A total of 30 people have been contacted as part of the HPA and Environmental Health department's investigation, three of whom are no longer linked with it.

Of the remaining 27 cases, 13 have given positive specimens for E.coli O157, four are likely to be confirmed in the next few days and the remainder are awaiting results.

A total of 11 people have received hospital treatment and one person remained in hospital yesterday.

GPs in the area have been alerted to look out for symptoms associated with the illness and are currently offering advice to, and obtaining samples as necessary from, anyone who has been in close contact with those people affected.

People who have already been contacted should heed the instructions they have been given, both for the welfare of their own family and the protection of others.

E.coli O157 is a severe form of food poisoning which can be contracted from contaminated foodstuffs such as cooked meat, milk and vegetables.

It can be spread from person to person by direct contact, particularly where good handwashing procedures are not followed, or by contact with infected animals.

Young children and older people can often be most severely affected by the illness.

Symptoms include severe or bloody diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal pain or cramps. Anyone suffering these symptoms should contact their family doctor in the usual way.

Bradford Council's environmental health department, the Health Protection Agency and the primary care trust continue to work together to prevent any potential spread of the infection.