Oregon family to sue hospital for missing E. coli O157 that killed girl, 4

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Douglas Powell

The devastated family of a 4-year-old Oregon girl who died Monday after contracting E. coli plans to sue a hospital the family says failed to properly diagnose the illness.

Serena Profitt was taken off life support Monday evening after falling sick just a week prior, despite several attempts to get her medical help as her condition grew increasingly worse, her family said.

“We don’t want money, we want them to be accountable … to say this will not happen again to another child,” the girl’s aunt, Aleasha Hargitt, told KATU-TV.

Her family took the blond child to the Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln City, Ore., Sept. 3 and sent her home

“(Serena’s mom) asked (the hospital) to run the tests, so they dismissed her from the hospital at Lincoln City on Wednesday with the rotavirus, they said go home, check in with their pediatrician on Thursday, which was recommended by the hospital,” Hargitt told the TV station.

The next day, the family returned to the same hospital with the girl, who’d had a fever, abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea. A different doctor saw the sick girl, but again sent the family home, this time with a misdiagnosis, Hargitt says.

“He specifically said E. coli was negative,” Hargitt told KATU.

The family again returned home, but Serena showed no improvement. Distressed and concerned, they drove about 50 miles Saturday to a hospital in McMinnville, Ore., where doctors realized her condition was grave.

“Everybody was very surprised. I know the McMinnville doctor was maddened, like, he was upset,” Hargitt told the station. “If (North Lincoln Hospital) ordered (the test), why didn’t (they) run it? Why did you cancel it? Is it too expensive? Is it too time consuming? Is it too much out of you day. I don’t know. It’s a question they don’t want to answer right now.”

Family of UK girl infected with E. coli O157 at farm win settlement

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Douglas Powell

The family of a girl left fighting for her life after contracting E.coli at a children’s petting farm five years ago today said they were finally able to move on after receiving a share of £1 million in compensation.

Lucy Erskine’s children Niall, Claudia and Evan were among 76 children who fell ill after visiting Godstone Farm in Surrey in 2009. Niall and Evan had mild infections but Claudia, then aged six, suffered acute kidney failure and spent three weeks in hospital.

Now 11, Claudia has recovered but her mother said there remains a possibility she could suffer health complications in future. She will need to be monitored for the rest of her life.

During the family’s visit to the farm the children were encouraged by employees to go into enclosures and pet goats, pigs, chickens and donkeys.

Claudia fell ill a week later and was rushed to the paediatric renal unit at Evelina Children’s Hospital in London, where one third of the ward was taken up by the victims of one of Britain’s biggest ever E.coli outbreaks.

For three weeks she was given dialysis and fed through a tube. She needed three blood transfusions.

In a landmark legal ruling, the owners of Godstone Farm were last month found wholly liable for the cases because the antibacterial hand gels provided were not powerful enough to kill off the virulent O157 strain of bacteria.

Claudia and another nine of the most badly affected children have been awarded payouts in an out-of-court settlement said to total almost £1 million.

The awards, to be paid by the Surrey farm’s insurers, are provisional so the children can seek further compensation should their condition deteriorate. Judge Sir Colin Mackay at London’s High Court approved the settlement as sensible and fair.

Jill Greenfield, solicitor at Fieldfisher, which represented the 10 families, today called for an accreditation scheme for petting farms which she said would “give parents some level of reassurance and allow them to decide whether or not to take their children to a particular farm.”

Best practices for planning events encouraging human-animal interactions

03.Apr.14

Zoonoses and Public Health

G. Erdozain , K. KuKanich , B. Chapman and D. Powell

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zph.12117/abstract?deniedAccess

Educational events encouraging human–animal interaction include the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. It is estimated that 14% of all disease in the US caused by Campylobacter spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, non-O157 STECs, Listeria monocytogenes, nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica and Yersinia enterocolitica were attributable to animal contact. This article reviews best practices for organizing events where human–animal interactions are encouraged, with the objective of lowering the risk of zoonotic disease transmission.

Faith-based food safety: shiga-toxin E. coli spreads in Kansas

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Skip Cowan with the Harvey County Health Department in Kansas says, “Unfortunately, now we have one new case and we currently have two children that are currently in the hospital.” Of the two children in the hospital, one got sick just last week and one has been on dialysis for almost a month now.

Health Department investigators say it’s been frustrating trying to figure out how this particular strain of E. coli reached its young victims.

“Not totally sure what did cause it,” said Cowan. “We do not think it was food related at this time.”

Investigators have spent weeks trying to figure out how the children got infected with a potentially deadly strain of E. coli that attacks the kidneys, causing something called hemolytic uremic syndrome or HUS.

They do know all the children infected attended the same church in Newton.

“Now it is ironic they all do go to the church, but as of right now we don’t have any reason to think it has anything to do with the church,” said Cowan.

The church is doing everything it can to prevent any more spread of the bacteria, sterilizing all equipment in the children’s areas, cancelling its Bible School this week, and beginning its summer break from Sunday School classes early. Meanwhile, they’re asking for prayers for the children in the hospital.

3 stricken with HUS in Kansas

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Three children were recently diagnosed and treated for hemolytic uremic syndrome at Wichita’s Wesley Medical Center.

HUS is a rare condition that can result from E. coli poisoning.

The hospital isn’t giving details of these recent cases, but HUS can lead to life-long disabilities or death.

7 confirmed sick, 2 HUS; E. coli outbreak in Connecticut

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Douglas Powell

The North Central District Health Department said seven cases were confirmed.
All of them required the patients to be hospitalized, according to the department.

Health officials said five of them were mild cases, but two were a severe form of the bacterial infection known as Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, or HUS.

They said the people with the mild cases have already been released, but one of the two with HUS remains in the hospital.

The source of the E. coli has not been found.

3-year-old with E. coli HUS recovers

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Was it the swimming pool, the goat or some food?

Heidi Moore of West Chester, Pennsylvania, doesn’t know, but is thankful her 3-year-old son is alive.

According to the Avon Grove Sun, Moore’s son, Dane, was stricken with hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) after contracting an E. coli infection the first week of August while he and his family were vacationing at Ocean City, Md.

Dane became very sick soon after the family arrived. He began vomiting violently, had severe stomach pains and had bloody diarrhea. Heidi took him to a local urgent care center, and he was diagnosed with an ear infection. But after he showed no signs of improvement, she took him to the closest emergency center, in Berlin, Md. Doctors there realized the severity of Dane’s condition, and immediately airlifted him to DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation.

By the time he got there, his condition worsened.

“Doctors just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him,” Heidi said. “They thought it was appendicitis, colitis or Crone’s Disease. And then his kidneys shut down, and he stopped urinating and was put into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. That night he had seizures and was set up for dialysis.”

Dane spent three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. Doctors told Heidi and her husband Jeff that it was touch and go, and warned them that he may not come out of ICU alive.

Heidi, an eighth-grade teacher in the Ridley School District, said she is now starting to deal with medical bills. The 50-minute medevac helicopter alone cost $50,000, she said.

To this day, Heidi said she doesn’t know where the E. coli came from. Her husband, and their sons, Chase, 8 and Brody, 6 all got it but were able to fight it off.

“I don’t think we’ll ever know,” she said. “He was in a swimming pool, touched a goat at the Goshen Fair, and the only common food was chicken nuggets (at a fast food establishment).”

Rate of dangerous E. coli in Irish children triples

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Irish Health reports 13 children in Ireland have been hit with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication of shiga-toxin producing E. coli that affects the kidneys, so far this year.

Provisional figures show a 200% increase in the number of STEC cases in the first half of 2012 compared with the same period last year, according to Dr Kevin Kelleher, head of health protection in the Health Service Executive (HSE).

There have been 212 reports of people being infected by strains of E. coli O157 in the first six months of this year, compared to 69 for the same period in 2011.

Part of the increase is thought to be due to heavy rainfall contaminating private water supplies, others largely in child-care centers.

Boston-area boy dies from apparent E. coli

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Douglas Powell

A 6-year-old boy has died from hemolytic uremic syndrome in Millbury, Mass., near Boston, and state health officials are investigating the possibility of foodborne illness.

“The symptoms reported may be indicative of a foodborne illness, and is currently under epidemiologic investigation,” according to an e-mail Wednesday evening from Anne Roach, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

The Boston Globe reports the death certificate for the boy lists his name as Owen Carrignan. He died around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, according to Derek Brindisi, director of Worcester’s Public Health Department.

“All the signs pointed to E. coli,” said Shawn Carrignan, 37, Owen’s father, late Wednesday night. “Basically, he went over to a friend’s house Saturday night, we don’t know what he ate, but the next day he had a stomachache.”

Carrignan said Owen became continuously worse before he died on Saturday.

A wake for the boy was held in Millbury on Wednesday night, he said.

“He was the best at every sport,” Carrignan said. “You couldn’t slow him down. I’d play with him eight, nine hours and you couldn’t wear him down. He was my youngest. It was always about me and him. He was incredible.”

“The whole family has been devastated,” said Bob Carrignan, 69, Owen’s grandfather, Wednesday night. “It’s heartbreaking. He had everything going. He wasn’t just about sports. He was just a wonderful kid.”

More raw milk, more kids sick; 3 ill in Oregon

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Oregon health officials say three children under the age of 15 have been hospitalized with E. coli linked to raw milk from a small farm in Clackamas County.

The state Public Health Division said Friday that Foundation Farm has voluntarily stopped distributing milk.

Officials say lab tests confirm that a fourth child also has E. coli but has not been hospitalized. Health officials say other customers of the dairy are reporting recent diarrhea and other symptoms typical of the bacteria.

Grocery stores cannot sell raw, unpasteurized cow’s milk in Oregon. Officials say Foundation Farm distributed to 48 households that were part of a "herd share" — an arrangement in which people own one or more animals from a herd.

A table of raw milk related outbreaks is available at: http://bites.ksu.edu/rawmilk.

7 now sick from E. coli linked to raw milk in Missouri

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Two more cases of E. coli in central Missouri were confirmed Tuesday, bringing the total to seven people in the area who have recently been sickened by the same bacterial strain, state health officials said.

The patients include a 2-year-old from Boone County who is hospitalized with complications from the infection; a 17-month-old has also developed life-threatening complications affecting the kidneys. The other patients are all adults, health officials said.

barfblog

safe food from farm to fork

Tag Archives: Hus