DAPHNE, Ala. — A men’s outreach session Saturday turned anemic during the Eastern Shore Baptist Church’s 10th Annual Beast Feast and Wild Game Supper, where eight people contracted E. coli, the Baldwin County Health Department reported.

Eight people were confirmed to have the Escherichia coli, a bacterium commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded animals; 15 to 20 people had typical symptoms out of approximately 300 in attendance, the Rev. Ken Wilson, associate pastor, said.

Two boys are receiving treatments at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital; their condition has progressed well, Wilson said.

The E. coli bacterium nests in the intestines; some strands can cause food poisoning.

A public health representative confirmed the incident.

“We have an E. coli situation — a clustering of illnesses — at a group cook-out situation,” Teresa Porter, surveillance nurse coordinator for the Alabama Department of Public Health, said.

The source of the bacterium is still unknown, she said.

“We’re in the preliminary part of determining which food (caused the break out) because there were so many items. We had an environmentalist look at the location,” she said.

The health department is testing patients to find the root of the problem, she added.

“We’ve been looking at those who were sick to try to determine common links and we’re interviewing others who attended to use them as a control group.”

Church members had brought a covered dish to the pot-luck; barbecued Boston butts were smoked on site, Wilson said.

“We’re still working with the health department to determine a common thread,” he said. “We’re still not sure if it (the bacteria) was from a dish, from something we did or from someone not washing their hands and contaminating the food.”

The annual Beast Feast and Wild Game Supper aims to attract men who normally don’t attend church services, he said.

“We try to reach people with the gospel,” he said. “Men will come to a wild game event; and we had a speaker that was a baseball coach.”

As for next year?

“We’re working closely with the health department to see what we can do differently,” Wilson said. “We’re just going to be proactive.”