Nine Child HUS Cases in same Pennylvania Region
HUS or hemolytic uremic syndrome has struck nine children living in the region around Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania and the majority of them swam in the lake at Cowan’s Gap park before getting sick from E. coli.
That’s the word from Hershey Medical Center spokesman Scott Gilbert, who told about the unusually high number of HUS cases in children in an interview with Jim Tuttle of Public Opinion in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Three children with HUS are currently being treated at the medical center, including one who swam at Cowan’s Gap, Gilbert said.
In the Cowan’s Gap E. coli investigation, 15 people who swam in the lake during July have been identified as case patients. The park’s swimming facility has been closed and will not reopen this season, but a boil water advisory there has been lifted. People have returned to camping, fishing and using the park, but not in great numbers.
Christine Cronkright, Pennsylvania Department of Health, said the source of contamination has not been determined. “We can tell you that all of the tests that Department of Health conducted for E. coli 0157 at the lake came back negative,” she wrote in an e-mail to Public Opinion.
State and local E. coli investigators continue to look for the cause of this outbreak, which could possibly result in HUS litigation if a scientific explanation can be found. Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, a leading E. coli law firm representing outbreak victims, also is investigating and accepting clients who are deserving of answers. Compensation would be due to them if the bacterial source is the result of negligence. Free E. coli case consultations are available by submitting contact information online or calling a lawyer at the firm’s main line 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free).
HUS in Children When E. coli 026 is the Cause
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) in children is mostly commonly derived from an infection of E. coli O157:H7 and nothing in science that we know of has refuted that. Children under 5 years of age are most susceptible to E. coli HUS, which almost always leads to kidney failure but has many other serious health risks — including brain, heart and central nervous system injuries.
Our HUS law firm is a leading, nationally recognized legal group for families whose loved ones have contracted foodborne infections of Shiga Toxin-producing E. coli such as E. coli O157:H7 that lead to HUS and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). That is why a recent study in Scotland caught our attention.
The study by health officials in that country illustrates the potential for increased severity of HUS from E. coli O26 infection in children. “We suggest that infection with E. coli O26 in children can result in more severe and complicated forms of HUS than those caused by E. coli O157.” In contrast to another European study, the Scots found that there was a significant difference in neurologic complications between the two groups.
Although initial signs and symptoms were similar for both sets of cases — bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain — statistical analysis showed that children with O26-HUS were more likely to have neurologic complications and diabetes and require admission to the intensive care unit than O157-HUS patients.
Also, O26-HUS patients had significantly longer periods of anuria than O157-HUS patients and were more likely to require treatment with hemofiltration than with hemodialysis. One patient with O26-HUS also experienced serious heart injury: cardiomyopathy resulting in reduced left ventricular function.
“Our study was limited by the small number of patients with pediatric O26-HUS. However, given the severity of the complications experienced by the children in this cohort, we believe it is necessary to communicate these findings promptly to the international community,” the study authors wrote in findings republished this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Outbreaks of foodpoisoning that result in HUS from any type of E. coli result in burdensome medical expenses, lost time from work, travel and daycare expenses, future earnings loss, future medical problems and pain and suffering. To hold purveyors of contaminated food accountable for the harms they cause, E. coli HUS lawsuits often are necessary and beneficial to the cause of food safety.The courts provide an effective check-and-balance system — sending a message that real-life penalties for negligence go beyond civil fines that regulators can impose. For free HUS case consultations, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or submit contact information online and a lawyer will respond to you directly.
HUS E. coli in Children Who Swam at Cowan’s Gap
Three children with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious E. coli complication that affects the kidneys, were still being treated this week at Penn State Hershey Medical Center as part of the Cowan’s Gap State Park E. coli outbreak.
The Pennsylvania hospital’s spokesman told the Record Herald newspaper in Waynesboro that there have been no new cases reported at Hershey in the last week. The medical center has treated eight patients in the last month for HUS. Five of them had ties to Cowans Gap, the spokesman said. So far, 14 cases of E. coli O157:H7 — 11 from Pennsylvania and three from Maryland — have been reported. All of them swam in the 42-acre lake at Cowans Gap between July 12 and July 31 and became ill a short time later. Of the Pennsylvania cases, six people are from Franklin County, four from Lancaster County and one from Huntingdon County, according to the newspaper. The Pennsylvania Department of Health is investigating and national E. coli lawyers at Pritzker Olsen Attorneys are monitoring the investigation on behalf of victims.
The lake closed August 9 due to the outbreak and has now reopened to boating and fishing. A different strain of E. coli was found in one of two wells at the park last week and a boil water notice was put in place Wednesday. The notice was lifted Sunday morning after “a string of good test results.”
HUS E. coli is a life-threatening condition in which the body’s red blood cells are fragmented by Shiga toxin, causing blocked circulation in the kidneys and elsewhere or bleeding in the brain. It predominantly causes kidney failure and most often affects children under 5, but people of all ages — including healthy young adults — can contract the disease and face death or dire illness, including paralysis or other central nervous system disorders. HUS can cause convulsions, strokes, severe anemia, vascular injury, heart problems and other serious health problems — both acute and long-term. Once an infection from a type of E. coli that emits a Shiga toxin has been established, no therapeutic interventions are available to lessen the risk of HUS from developing.
HUS symptoms may include: fever, abdominal pain, pale skin tone, fatigue and irritability, small, unexplained bruises or bleeding from the nose and mouth, decreased urination and swelling of the face, hands, feet, or entire body. Persons who experience these symptoms and believe they are at risk for HUS should seek emergency medical care immediately. HUS signs usually begin as the initial diarrhea from E. coli infection is improving.
Deer Droppings Caused Oregon Strawberry E. coli
Oregeon E. coli investigators say Jaquith Farms strawberries were contaminated by deer droppings, causing a strawberry E. coli outbreak that killed an elderly woman in Washington County and sickened at least 14 more.
The finding was announced by state public health officials. Those same experts have identified where the berries were sold — at roadside stands and farmers’ markets instead of mainstream grocery stores.
National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys has monitored this outbreak and is accepting cases from individuals and families affected by the tainted produce. Oregon’s epidemiologists did testing in the fields at Jaquith Farms in Newberg to determine that feces from roaming deer carried the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7.
The contaminated berries were off the market by August 1, but our firm has seen many examples of people getting sick months later by eating adulterated food that has been sitting in freezers, or in this case, jams. Cooking, however, kills foodborne pathogens.
According to the Oregonian, seven people were hospitalized in the outbreak and three suffered kidney failure. Those cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (E. coli HUS) or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (E. coli TTP) are not only life threatening in the short-term, but they present life-long health concerns — including vascular injury — that a physician must monitor and treat on an annual basis.
Wildlife droppings are a known threat to food safety in the produce industry and best practices are prescribed to minimize the risk and control it. Conditions and practices at Jaquith will be srutinized not only by health and agriculture officials, but by E. coli investigators at Pritzker Olsen. Our firm is one of the very few in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation, holding purveyors of produce, meat and other food accountable for impurities that can kill or hospitalize consumers. These outbreaks are preventable.
To contact an E. coli lawyer with years of experience in E. coli litigation, send contact information or call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) for a case consultation — no fees. Our legal team has collected tens of millions of dollars for E. coli victims across the country and we are actively involved in numerous efforts to prevent food poisoning outbreaks and strengthen food safety in the U.S.
HUS E. coli Kills 9 in European Outbreak
HUS E. coli infections in Germany have killed nine people and sickened more than 275 as health officials grapple with a major outbreak of E. coli O104 traced to cucumbers that were fertilized by growers in Spain with manure — a well-known reservoir of the pathogen.
The European Commission is keeping a very close watch on the situation, which also has the close attention of foodborne illness experts in the United States, including leading E. coli lawyer Fred Pritzker.
An active HUS E. coli outbreak has extended from northern Germany into Sweden, the UK and other western European countries. All together, more than 800 people have been infected and about a third of them have contracted E. coli HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening infectious disease that causes renal failure, strokes, anemia, central nervous system disorders and heart problems by fragmenting a person’s red blood cells and disrupting normal blood flow.
Children under the age of 5 are most susceptible to HUS. The elderly, cancer patients and other people who have weakened immune systems also are at high risk, but E. coli infections that lead to HUS can strike people of any age, including healthy adults. Negative effects linger throughout a person’s lifetime as a result of vascular injuries
E. coli O104 is one of many non-O157:H7 types of E. coli that emit powerful Shiga toxin, which attack a person’s hemoglobin. Since the early 1980s, Escherichia coli has been recognized as a cause of diarrhea and hemorrhagic colitis. While it is now recognized that E. coli strains belonging to a variety of serotypes can cause HUS, O157:H7 is the dominant EC serotype in many parts of the world and has been the type most commonly associated with foodborne outbreaks.
