Scientists are testing food products - milk, meat, raw vegetables and water - in a bid to locate the outbreak of an E-coli infection, which has led to the closure of a nursery in Skipton.

Doctors in the town have also been alerted to consider the chances of E-coli in children reporting ill with diarrhoea.

Two children aged under five, who attend Busy Bears nursery in Broughton Road, Skipton, are in a stable condition in hospital.

One is being treated at St James's Hospital, Leeds, and the other at Airedale General Hospital, Steeton.

The bug has also been identified in a number of other youngsters, but so far all are well.

Health officials closed the nursery on Wednesday, as reported in later editions of yesterday's Telegraph & Argus.

They sent home 21 staff, 99 nursery school pupils and 43 pupils aged under 11 who attend the after-school group.

They are all being screened to see if they have been infected.

Dr Ebere Okereki, consultant in communicable diseases at North Yorkshire Health Protection Team, said the infection had been discovered in a child who visited a GP with diarrhoea.

Following further investigations a second child was found to be suffering.

"We are trying to locate the source. It could be in food or drink they have taken at home or in the nursery," said Dr Okereki.

"It can be spread from hand to mouth, especially among young children whose hand hygiene is not always good enough.

"That was the reason we decided to close the nursery - not that there was anything wrong with the nursery, just because of the high risk of it spreading.

"The outbreak control team will review the situation daily and take appropriate actions. Parents of children at the nursery have been given appropriate advice."

Parent Emma Harvey, who lives off Broughton Road, said her 11-month-old daughter, Chloe Gilmour, who attends Busy Bears, had been examined for the infection.

"She had a stomach upset but the doctor said she was fine and there was nothing to worry about.

"I was shocked but I accept the place had to close to get things sorted out," she said.

E-coli is highly contagious and can be passed on by touch and has an incubation period of one to six days. It lives in the guts of farm animals, mostly cows.