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Ontario's second E.coli outbreak has resulted in the voluntary closure of the M.T. Bellies restaurant, following reports that three affected people ate at the establishment.

E.coli has been in the news recently after it was detected in a North Bay restaurant, and that particular outbreak has affected 229 people so far.

The good news is that an Alberta-based university researcher may have found a possible treatment for the deadly strain.

David Bundle, chemistry professor and director of the Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Carbohydrate Science, has developed a polymeric drug that binds a naturally occurring protein in the body with the E.coli toxin, preventing it from affecting the kidneys.

"If you give antibiotics, the bacteria die and burst open, spilling their toxins," said Bundle, cautioning that if the E. coli toxin invades the kidney, the result can be fatal.

But Bundle and his colleagues – Pavel Kitov and Glen Armstrong – have created a drug that lashes the E.coli bacteria to a naturally occurring protein molecule, preventing the E.coli from making contact with kidney cells. The drug that acts like a lasso is called Polybait.

Symptoms of E.coli illnesses typically include violent diarrhoea and stomach pain, with or without a fever.

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