February 15, 2007
Lee County -- A Lee County mother believes her two young sons got sick after eating some of the tainted peanut butter. Brandi Pierce had three jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter that are now under recall. Now those jars are at a lab being tested for salmonella.
It may be the love of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that kept 5-year-old Seth and 10-year-old Austin Pierce home from school this week. Austin got sick first, and doctors diagnosed him with the flu, sending him home with over the counter medicine.
"Came home that night, couldn't get his fever to break. It was 103.5, called the doctor back she said don't take him to the emergency room, it comes along, it's just the fever fighting the infection," said Brandi Pierce.
Mother Brandi Pierce says then 5-year-old Seth got sick with the same symptoms, including a fever, vomiting, headache, and cough. But she took Seth to a different doctor, who gave him blood tests.
"Said he had a bacterial infection. Well I took them both back to the doctor today. The doctor confirmed that they've both been exposed to salmonella. That's what's caused them to be so sick," said Pierce.
But Pierce didn't know how her sons were exposed, until she got a call from her mother-in-law, who heard on the news about the recall on Peter Pan peanut butter because of a salmonella outbreak. That's why Pierce checked out her own pantry.
"She gave me the first four digits on there. I had three jars of peanut butter that had those first digits on them," said Pierce.
Pierce believes it is the peanut butter that made her children sick, so she and her husband sent the jars to a lab for testing. She says other parents with Peter Pan peanut butter in their homes beware, and when going to the doctor flu-like symptoms don't always mean the flu.
"Ask for a blood test. I would definitely ask for a blood test. It's a simple test, they prick the finger, and they just run it, check your white cell counts and see if it's a bacterial load or viral load," said Pierce.
The Pierce brothers symptoms were caused by salmonella that apparently was hiding in their favorite food.
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