Boy’s E. coli Infection Results From Fall in Rodeo Event
A boy who fell from a sheep during a Texas rodeo event contracted E. coli and is now fighting for his life in a hospital.
The 3-year-old boy has been at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, for several weeks and is being transferred this week to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston for more specialized care. He has been unconscious.
He has hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening disease that occurs most often in young children who have E. coli O157:H7 infections. The disease attacks a person’s red blood cells, causing kidney failure, stroke, heart problems, brain damage, central nervous system disorder and anemia.
According to newspaper reports, the boy accidentally ingested dirt from the rodeo floor when he was thrown from a sheep during a mutton-busting event. Public health authorities have long recognized the danger of animal-borne pathogens in live animal settings, including petting zoos and livestock shows.
Cattle and other animals harbor E. coli in their intestines and shed it in their feces. Once in hubans, the bacteria emit a powerful toxin that can get into a person’s bloodstream and wreak havoc all over the body.
The boy’s mother told a reporter that Goldthwaite residents have been holding carwashes and other benefits, selling T-shirts and praying for the youngster since learning of his plight.
Food Safety Lawyer Fred Pritzker on Raw Milk Dangers
After Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle vetoed a bill in May that would have made it legal to sell raw milk in the state, the conversation about whether raw milk is safe is still going in Wisconsin and around the country. Food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker represents people across the country who have become sick after drinking raw milk.
“My clients have been very seriously injured by drinking raw milk that they were told was safe,” Pritzker says. “It is clearly an unsafe product and shouldn’t be sold. The risks of illness are simply too high.”
Pritzker commented on Green Bay, Wisconsin’s NBC26 for a recent story on the issue:
Campylobacter and E. coli are two pathogens that can be found in raw, unpasteurized milk. Both can make people extremely ill, especially the elderly and very young children. Campylobacter can lead to Guillain Barre syndrome, which paralyzed one of Pritzker’s clients for life. E. coli can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, which can cause lifelong kidney problems and can in some cases be deadly.
Vancouver Daycare Closes After Child’s E. coli Death
After a 4-year-old Vancouver boy died of E. coli poisoning, the home daycare center he attended has had its license permanently revoked by Washington state health officials, according to the Columbian.
The boy became sick with the life-threatening E. coli O157:H7 pathogen in April. After being rushed to the hospital with bloody diarrhea–a strong sign of an Ecoli infection–the deadly bacteria attacked his kidneys and colon. He was put on dialysis and died after spending a week in a Portland hospital.
In addition to the one E coli death there were 13 cases of E. coli poisoning related to this outbreak, according to county health officials. Three others were hospitalized but recovered and 10 more people tested positive for the pathogen but had only mild E. coli symptoms. The owners of the day care, who have operated it for about 20 years, say they plan to appeal the state’s revocation of the license. Health officials told local news sources that the license was being revoked for several reasons:
- The daycare owners waited too long before reporting child illnesses to the county health department
- The daycare did not follow state-regulated diapering procedures
- The daycare lacked sufficient records for one of the children who attended
- A previous citation was on record for operating over the capacity for which they were licensed, which was only 12 children
Health officials have said the infection was most likely spread by person-to-person contact and that it was not a case of foodborne illness.
E. Coli HUS Lawsuit From Contaminated Well Water
A lawsuit involving contaminated well water has been settled by food safety attorney Elliot Olsen of Pritzker Olsen law firm. Although E. coli infections are more commonly associated with contaminated food like ground beef, it is entirely possible to contract E. coli poisoning from water supplies as well.
In this particular case, an Iowa toddler became sick from E. coli-contaminated well water that served as the water supply to the rural home her family rented. In May of 2007 she became sick with symptoms of an E. coli infection, including severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. She was hospitalized and her symptoms worsened as the pathogen infected her blood. Her condition, known as hemolytic uremic syndrome ( HUS), destroyed her red blood cells and kept the kidneys from serving their purpose as filters that clean and remove waste from the bloodstream.
She was put on kidney dialysis and remained in the hospital for about a month. Even three years later, she has permanent kidney damage and will continue to require medication and treatment, and could need a kidney transplant later in life.
Employees of the Iowa county where the home is located tested tap water from the house in June of 2007 and the results were positive for E. coli. The home is surrounded by pasture land, and cattle are known to graze on land uphill from the well. Expert witnesses, including a PhD environmental engineer from a major university and a PhD microbiologist from another major university specializing in E-coli, were hired to examine the situation and confirmed that cattle manure in rainwater most likely drained into the well and contaminated the water with the pathogen.
Although settlement earned for this young girl will help offset past and future medical expenses, they cannot undo the suffering this family has experienced. Nor will the settlement change the fact that property owners have a duty to their tenants to provide safe, clean drinking water—a duty that the property owner in this case has failed to fulfill.
Daycare E. coli Outbreak in Portland Area Prompts Shut Down
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, person-to-person outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 occur most frequently in child daycare centers.
That appears to be the case in the greater Portland-Vancouver area where public health officials have shut down a daycare center in Clark County (Washington) where four children were hospitalized with E. coli O157:H7 infections. The Portland Oregonian reports that one child remains hospitalized, possibly with HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can be life-threatening.
The Clark County health department first learned of a child from the daycare center being hospitalized on March 19. The state-licensed daycare center, which was not named by the newspaper, was closed April 2 and won’t reopen until tests prove that staff and children are free of the pathogen.
According to the Oregonian, investigators tested stool samples from 22 children and four adult caregivers at the day care and found six carrying the O157:H7 strain but not showing symptoms. It can take up to 10 days for symptoms to appear after initial exposure.
E. coli prevention efforts in daycare settings should be focused on strict hygiene, especially if diapers are being changed. The transmission is fecal-oral. That is why public health agencies emphasize the importance of educating caretakers to avoid direct contact with fecal matter and to apply stringent handwashing rules.
