Tag Archives: Coma

5-year old in coma with HUS

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My son is 6-years old, stories like this are sickening. But hey, food safety is simple….

A 5-year-old girl is unconscious and two others are in hospital after a case of food poisoning from a batch of potato salad sold at a supermarket deli counter here.
The 5-year-old has been diagnosed with hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) — acute kidney failure plus anemia caused by the destruction of red blood cells and a low platelet count.
A total of eight people aged 4 to 60 who ate the potato salad purchased at the “Delicious” deli counter in the Shokusaikan Marche supermarket branch here reported food poisoning symptoms including diarrhea. Tests found the O157 strain of E. coli bacteria in six of the patients.
The Saitama Prefectural Kumagaya Health Center has determined the potato salad as the cause of the outbreak, and suspended business at the “Delicious” deli for three days starting from Aug. 21 based on the Food Sanitation Act.
According to prefectural authorities, the potato salad was produced by a company outside Saitama Prefecture. The deli then added ham, apple and other extra ingredients and put it on sale starting Aug. 7.

 

Soy sauce overdose sends man into coma

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A young man who drank a quart of soy sauce went into a coma and nearly died from an excess of salt in his body, according to a recent case report.

The 19-year-old, who drank the soy sauce after being dared by friends, is the first person known to have deliberately overdosed on such a high amount of salt and survived with no lasting neurological problems, according to the soy.sauce.quart.13doctors in Virginia who reported his case. The case report was published online June 4 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Huffington Post reports too much salt in the blood, a condition called hypernatremia, is usually seen in people with psychiatric conditions who develop a strong appetite for the condiment, said Dr. David J. Carlberg, who treated the young man and works as an emergency medicine physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Hypernatremia is dangerous because it causes the brain to lose water. When there is too much salt in the bloodstream, water moves out of the body tissues and into the blood by the process of osmosis, to try to equalize the salt concentration between the two. As water the leaves the brain, the organ can shrink and bleed, Carlberg said.

After the man drank the soy sauce, he began twitching and having seizures, and the friends took him to an emergency room. That hospital administered anti-seizure medication, and he was already in a coma when he was taken to the hospital where Carlberg was working, the University of Virginia Medical Center, nearly four hours after the event.

The team immediately began flushing the salt out of his system by administering a solution of water and the sugar dextrose through a nasal tube. When they placed the tube, streaks of brown material came out. Within a half hour, they pumped 1.5 gallons (6 liters) of sugar water into the man’s body.

The man’s sodium levels returned to normal after about five hours. He remained in a coma for three days, but woke up on his own.

A typical quart of soy sauce has more than 0.35 pounds (0.16 kilograms) of salt, the researchers said.

UK E. coli rate ‘disgusting’

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Karen Morrisroe almost died from E. coli O157 last year.

She says U.K. E. coli rates are "disgusting."

The 33-year-old from Wrexham, contracted the bug in July 2009, 10 weeks after giving birth, and spent five weeks on "death’s door" in a coma, after an outbreak was linked to a chip shop in Llay, which was still under investigation.
 

The face of E. coli O157

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Three-year-old Abigail Hennessey, right, is recovering from an E. coli O157 outbreak in Wales that struck at least four people, including a 32-year-old librarian and new mother who remains in a medically induced coma after suffering kidney damage as a result of the infection.

Abigail’s grandfather, Ronald Hennessey, of Gresford, said that thanks to superb medical treatment from the staff at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, Abigail was now steadily improving.

“It is great to know she is making excellent progress. Day by day she is getting better and stronger in her recovery.”

Mr Hennessey said the situation was in stark contrast to last week when Abigail fell seriously ill after contracting E.coli.

“Then it was almost as if she was in a kind of trance. She was just staring right ahead. But now she is up talking and laughing. I don’t know when she will be coming home. I would very much like to thank Alder Hey for its tremendous work. They have been magnificent.”

Three-year-old recovering from E coli but woman still in coma

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A three-year-old girl who needed dialysis after being caught up in an E coli outbreak is beginning to recover in hospital, her parents said today.

Abigail Hussey suffered kidney failure after eating from a takeaway in Wrexham, north Wales, and is one of two people undergoing hospital treatment after the outbreak last month. Karen Morrisroe-Clutton, a new mother who also had kidney failure, remains in a medically induced coma at Wrexham Maelor hospital. The North East Wales NHS trust said she was in a serious but stable condtion.

She is in Alder Hey Children’s hospital in Liverpool, which today released a statement from her mother, Sarah, who also fell ill, and her father, Jeff.

"Abigail’s condition deteriorated and she was eventually referred to Wrexham hospital, who transferred her immediately to Alder Hey on Monday 27 July. She tested positive for E coli and was placed on dialysis. We are very relieved that Abigail is beginning to recover, is off dialysis and is eating and drinking quite well."

Sharon Mills, the mother of E. coli victim Mason Jones (left) said the latest Wales outbreak has brought horrific memories flooding back.

“It’s terrible that more people are having to go through this. Mason fought for two weeks until he couldn’t fight any more and ever since I have fought on for him as I don’t want his death to be in vain.”

While the cause of the North Wales outbreak remains under investigation, Mills said she believes both the authorities and the public still fail to fully appreciate the terrible consequences of E.coli infection.

The Llay Fish Bar was allowed to continue business even though environmental health inspectors found poor hygiene conditions and was awarded the lowest rating of no stars during the August 2008 inspection.

Mills said:

“The threat of E.coli is not being taken on board. People really need to start listening and they need to start listening now. The message needs to be drummed home that E.coli is serious and can affect anyone, not just those with underlying health problems. it’s such a powerful bacteria.”