Searching for the Source: One Family’s Story

Marler Clark epidemiologist Patti Waller and Barbara Kowalcyk, whose son Kevin died after contracting an E. coli infection in 2001, co-wrote this article for the January/February 2006 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health. It describes the Kowalcyk family's struggle to find the source of Kevin's illness and public health agencies' responses to Barbara's and Marler Clark's requests for information. The article's authors make it clear that not every person with a foodborne illness is so “lucky” to benefit from a multi-agency investigation into the source of their illness.