A local haunted house may be closing nearly a month before Halloween, as health officials warn of another E.coli threat at the Medina County Fairgrounds.

NewsChannel5 reports that one new case has been confirmed in a 1-year-old child, and a 10-year-old child is in the hospital waiting for test results.

People are supposed to be afraid of monsters at the haunted house, but at the Medina County Fairgrounds, the real scare is in the water pipes.

Health inspectors are investigating another threat from a deadly form of E.coli bacteria.

"It's been especially hard on people who have children who have gotten sick," Medina County Health Commissioner David Baldwin said.

The E.coli threat has shut down the Carnival of Horrors. Many people wanted to work in the haunted house, which features a 3-D room.

"Everybody puts their heart and soul into building this," Carnival of Horrors organizer Ryan Pluta said. "It takes six weeks, every day, after work, weekends, to put this thing together."

Pluta runs the haunted house, and he said that it could lose $100,000 if the E.coli threat continues until Halloween.

"Now we're kind of caught in the middle, because we've got to pay for the thing, too," he said.

Health officials have narrowed down their search for the bacteria, and they know that the problem is in water pipes that serve some barns at the fairgrounds, WEWS reports. But officials still don't know exactly how or where the E.coli is getting into the water.

Bathrooms and water at the fairgrounds are currently off-limits, and the health commissioner hopes that it isn't the start of another outbreak. At the county fair in August, 27 people from five counties caught the bug.

"It's going to be our recommendation that (the haunted house) be closed until further notice," Baldwin said.

Medina County health inspectors are still trying to track down exactly how the two children may have been exposed to E.coli.

But the commissioner warns that it is the same potentially deadly form as the last time, so anyone with bloody diarrhea should get to a doctor or the emergency room right away.

Previous Stories:

• October 4, 2000: County Fair Water Linked To E.coli Outbreak
• October 3, 2000: Report Expected On E.coli Outbreak
• August 22, 2000: Cause Of E. Coli Outbreak Remains A Mystery
• August 22, 2000: E. Coli Cases Hit Five Counties
• August 17, 2000: Cause Of Outbreak Still A Mystery
• August 16, 2000: 14 Believed To Be Infected By E. Coli
• August 15, 2000: Animals, Lemonade Focus Of E.coli Outbreak
• August 15, 2000: What Is E.coli?
• August 15, 2000: E. Coli Outbreak Linked To County Fair
• August 14, 2000: E. Coli Outbreak In Northeast Ohio