The number of people sickened by E. coli bacteria in Germantown has risen to 55, according to Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County officials.

The health department is investigating the outbreak which appears to have stemmed from a customer appreciation picnic July 3 at Neff’s Lawn Care.

Bill Wharton, a spokesman for the health department, said 19 additional cases were identified Wednesday with 10 hospitalizations since the event. Wharton did not know the exact status of the hospitalized patients Wednesday. None of the illnesses were life-threatening.

“For our community, this is a fairly large outbreak of E. coli 0157,” Wharton said.

The health department is not expecting the illness count to rise significantly, because the normal incubation period for this strain of E. coli is eight days, and Wednesday was the eighth day since the picnic. The number has grown over time because those who were feeling ill heard about illnesses from the picnic and contacted the health department, Wharton said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 1,034 foodborne illness outbreaks nationally in 2008, the most recent year of data available. The outbreaks affected an average of 22.4 people and caused a total of 1,276 hospitalizations and 22 deaths, the CDC said.

Bob Neff, owner of the family business that hosts the annual picnic, said he’s heartbroken that people became sick from carry-in food eaten at the event.

“It’s bad when something happens and you have no control,” he told News Center 7.

He said about 300 people ate food that was mostly prepared off site. He and his sons grilled some meat, but do not believe that was the source of the infection because they ate leftovers for several days and did not become ill.

“All of a sudden your life is turned upside down by one call from the health department,” he said.

The picnic has been a growing event since 2007. That’s the year that Neff’s wife died and friends raised money to help support the family and their new business.

“(The Fourth of July party) became a thank-you for friends and family, and then we had customers come,” he said.

The family has not decided if they will hold the picnic next year.

Karli Sizemore and her 17-month-old son, Simon, are two of the people who became ill after eating at the picnic. Sizemore said she experienced painful stomach cramps starting last week and took her son to Dayton Children’s Medical Center to be checked out because of diarrhea.

“Basically you can’t do anything for it,” Sizemore said. “You just have to let it run it s course.”

Sizemore said she hopes this incident doesn’t negatively impact the Neff family or their business.

“They are good people,” she said. “I’ll go next year and the year after that.”