HUS Story of Isaiah Romero Gaining Attention Across USA
The story of 1-year-old Isaiah Romero is getting known around the country as this once-happy toddler is battling a violent complication of E. coli O157:H7 infection known as HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Isaiah’s case could possibly be linked to the JBS Swift outbreak of E. coli that has sickened at least 23 people in nine states. One of his recent well-wishers was Susan Vaughn Grooters, public health coordinator for the national non-profit food safety group Safe Tables Our Priority, or STOP. She wrote to the Romero family on a public website kept by the television station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that provided the initial coverage of Isaiah’s story. Grooters said STOP has been helping families whose children develop HUS for the past 16 years. “Our hearts go out to the Romero family,” she wrote.
Collectively, she was speaking for a lot of people who have been close to HUS, a disease that attacks the red blood cells and can wreak havoc around the body, especially the kidneys.
Isaiah is from Sioux Center, Iowa, and he has been treated this week at Sanford Childrens’ Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The TV report by station KSFY said he showed symptoms of food poisoning a few weeks ago with diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain, but an initial test for E. coli returned negative. But his illness last weekend developed into HUS, which occurs in a number of children who have E. coli infections. It’s very plausible that Isaiah’s illness is related to the JBS Swift outbreak.
The Greeley, Colorado, beef packer has recalled 421,000 pounds of meat cuts that were possibly contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. It was sold to grocery outlets around the country and many stores ground the cuts into store-packaged hamburger sold on foam trays covered by clear wrap. People from California to Maine have come down with the same type of E. coli that was found in the JBS Swift beef.
National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, based in Minneapolis, is currently representing families who have loved ones who developed HUS from a foodborne case of E. coli infection.
Tags: HUS outbreak
