A toddler is recovering after he was left in intensive care for two weeks due to kidney failure after contracting E. coli O55 while staying with family in Dorset.
An outbreak of E. coli 055 was reported in Dorset in Dec. 2014, with 10 people confirmed as suffering with the severe illness caused by the bacterium and at least 18 sickened. Public Health England (PHE) and local environmental health officials are investigating the outbreak in a bid to find the cause.
Now Neil Fincham-Dukes, 31, from Bath has instructed public health lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate why his son, Joseph, 3, and his daughter Poppy, 1, contracted E. coli and whether the illness is linked to the recent outbreak in Dorset.
- coli O55 is a rare strain of the bacteria which can have very serious consequences. Joseph’s symptoms began in early November 2014 and he suffered with diarrhea and sickness. He visited his doctor on two occasions, but unfortunately his condition worsened and he suffered a number of seizures and became disorientated.
He was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). He spent two weeks in intensive care and required daily dialysis for a number of weeks due to the severity of his symptoms. He is still receiving dialysis three times a week and his treating doctors have confirmed that he is likely to need a kidney transplant in the future because of the severity of the damage to his kidneys.