Posted on 03/23/2005 8:13:06 PM PST by MindBender26
TV Medical Reporter needs FReeper help. This is no drill.
Five young children are in Orlando are in critical condition in local hospitals with highly unusual kidney failure. Some are on emergency dialysis and ventilators. They are very ill. Some may not make it.
Doctors are not sure if the cause if the kidney failure is bacterially driven, but three have e-coli infections. The condition itself, hemolytic uermic syndrome, or “HUC,” often follows infection acquired from animal fecal matter.
The only connection between the five, and another child who was treated for a milder case and released, is that they all went to see the animals at a petting zoo that was on display at two local fairs, the Central Florida Fair and a week later at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City near Tampa. Local Health Department is trying to find other links, but it works at speed of other government agencies.........
One possible scenario is; Animal in petting zoo lies down and/or sleeps in straw and gets fecal matter on body. Child pets animal and transfers fecal matter to hand. Child puts hand in mouth and transfers fecal matter to digestive tract, infecting self.
Does any FReeper have any knowledge of:
1. Similar outbreaks in your area.
2. Unexplained kidney disease in your area.
3. Illness, especially in children, after visiting a fair, or especially a petting zoo.
All replies will be kept confidential if you wish.
Like I said, this is no drill, no joke. Any help very appreciated.
Don't think this is bioterror, but ????
Please be constructive with comments. These kids are very sick.
Maybe it wasn't from the animals, but from something else at the park or in the food served there?
"Some are on emergency dialysis and ventilators. They are very ill. Some may not make it."
No comment from the peanut gallery.
Here's hoping and praying these kid's will respond well to treatment and that the outbreak is limited.
>Maybe it wasn't from the animals, but from something else at the park or in the food served there?
Maybe, but only known link is the petting zoo.
Thanx.
>Maybe it wasn't from the animals, but from something else at the park or in the food served there?
Maybe, but only known link is the petting zoo.
Thanx.
Does cooking to medium, or well done destroy bacteria?
Big thanx
-could be something they ate or could be from coming in contact with contaminated food/feed that they were supplied by the petting zoo to feed the animals...
Burger bacteria can put kidneys at risk
Just over a decade ago, public knowledge surrounding E.coli—in particular, the strain called Escherichia coli O157:H7—was limited largely to the 1993 mess in which three children died after eating hamburgers at a Jack in the Box restaurant in Washington state. Looking back now, Vancouver resident Anne Nickerson says that she had heard of the illness but she certainly had no idea that she would soon become a crusader in raising awareness of the disease that nearly killed her infant daughter a year later.In August 1994, Nickerson and her husband, Larry Jackie, and their three-year-old girl, Lauren, attended a picnic where burgers were the main dish. Within a couple of days, Lauren started experiencing diarrhea. Nickerson thought it was a bad case of the flu, but her daughter’s diarrhea soon turned bloody. Less than a week after that summer gathering, Lauren had been admitted to B.C. Children’s Hospital and diagnosed with hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a complication that sometimes arises from an E.coli infection, kills red blood cells, and causes kidney failure. Little Lauren, whose kidneys had shut down, was put on dialysis and spent six weeks in hospital.
“It was a huge, huge shock for us,” Nickerson says in a phone interview. “I don’t even know how to describe what those six weeks were like. There were many touch-and-go moments where we didn’t know if she’d make it.
“The thing that really struck us was that it was preventable,” she adds. “It needn’t ever have happened.”
After being discharged from hospital, Lauren spent another month on dialysis. “Dialysis was a real eye opener for us,” Nickerson says. “It’s arduous and very time-consuming. She had tubing through her chest wall and had to be hooked up for a minimum of four hours at a time, three times a week. It was a huge challenge for a little girl just to sit still tied to this machine.…We were very glad when she was able to come off.”
From there, Lauren was put on medication for high blood pressure and started to follow a low-sodium, -protein, and -potassium diet. She’s now 13 and, at least by all outward appearances, a “normal” teenager: she has an 11-year-old brother and loves dancing, skiing, and playing volleyball. But the consequences of her E.coli infection remain.
According to the Kidney Foundation of Canada (www.kidney.ca/), E.coli are bacteria that live in the intestines of animals like cattle, pigs, sheep, and poultry. Some strains are harmless, but others, like E.coli O157:H7, produce a dangerous toxin. The most common foods containing harmful E.coli bacteria are beef, pork, lamb, and poultry, as well as unpasteurized milk and fruit juices, salami, and raw vegetables, particularly lettuce and sprouts.
The Atlanta, Georgia–based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that meat can become contaminated during slaughter, and organisms can get thoroughly mixed into beef when it’s ground. The bacteria can also spread via swimming in or drinking water contaminated with animal or human fecal matter. And E.coli can spread by hand-to-mouth contact if an infected person doesn’t thoroughly wash his or her hands after using the toilet.
According to the CDC’s Web site (www.cdc .gov/), about 73,000 Americans are infected with E.coli each year, and 61 people die as a result. Besides bloody diarrhea, symptoms include abdominal cramps and sometimes vomitting. There’s usually no fever, and if there is, it’s mild; the illness often goes away on its own within 10 days. But two to seven percent of infections, particularly in kids under five, the elderly, and people with a compromised immune system, lead to hemolytic-uremic syndrome, the CDC reports.
In the Nickersons’ case, HUS introduced the family to living-donor transplants. Nearly two years ago, Anne donated one of her kidneys to Lauren.
“It was frightening, because even though I was a match, there was no guarantee it would work,” Nickerson says. “It was very, very emotional. I would do it again in a split second.”
Both mother and daughter recovered well from the surgery; Lauren, who still takes antirejection medication, didn’t even miss any school. However, chances are good she’ll need another transplant 20 or so years down the road.
The kidneys remove wastes from the blood, regulate blood pressure, and control the production of red blood cells. The average wait for a kidney for transplant from a nonliving donor in 2004 in B.C. was nearly six years, according to the British Columbia Transplant Society. And only 12.5 percent of the province’s residents have registered to become donors. (Go to www.transplant.bc.ca/ for details.)
To help raise awareness of E.coli and HUS, Nickerson and her husband, along with the Kidney Foundation of Canada’s B.C. branch, started the Jackie Family Fund in 1995. Money raised goes toward publishing educational brochures, like E.coli Bacteria: What You Need to Know, which are available through the foundation and at some schools, seniors centres, and grocery stores. The pamphlet outlines ways to prevent infection, such as washing your hands with hot, soapy water after using the washroom or changing diapers and before preparing food, especially if a family member has diarrhea; and always thawing meat in the microwave or fridge, never at room temperature.
“You need to take steps yourself to protect your own family,” Nickerson says.
The brochure also recommends thoroughly washing then sanitizing all utensils and cutting surfaces used for raw meat with a diluted bleach solution. Of course, it also emphasizes the importance of checking to see if a burger is well cooked by cutting it open to make sure there is no pink meat and that the juices run clear.
The CDC adds to that by advising the use of a digital meat thermometer, because ground beef can turn brown before disease-causing bacteria are killed. The organization states that ground beef should be cooked until a thermometer inserted into several parts of the patty, including the thickest part, reads at least 160° F. Furthermore, the CDC says that if you get handed an undercooked hamburger or other ground-beef dish in a restaurant, send it back for further cooking and ask for a fresh bun and clean plate.
Or you might want to order pizza instead. -
That's more of a liver killer.
The first thing I thought when I saw "kidney failure" was an E. Coli infection. Other possible sources include undercooked meat (especially hamburger), unpasteurized milk or juices or raw honey, among other things. I've not heard of any outbreaks in my area (Polk County), and in fact this is the first media mention I've heard of it. I expect it'll be a fairly big story tomorrow, if it doesn't get buried in the Terri Schaivo avalanche. It needs to get big billing.
These kids desperately need out prayers if they do have HUS - it's a very serious condition, and even if they survive the initial infection it might cause so much permanent kidney damage that they'll have to deal with a lifetime of problems, maybe even dialysis. I'll keep my ears open and let you know if I hear anything about other cases.
It might, but that doesn't help with lettuce and other organically grown veggies.
To well done,yes,it does destroy the bacteria.
Before I reached this graf in your post, I had already drawn this conclusion. I think it's a lock. I suspect it was either (a) the same animal or (b) animals from the same paddock/pen.
Tragic story. Almost certainly not communicable.
Thanks for your post. I does seem strange that the article seems to imply that this has been caused by one traveling animal exhibition, but the behaviors of animals and children would seem to be almost universal. Instead of force-feeding of antibiotics to most domesticated animals being the cause of this, it would seem that these particular animals have a localized infection which is so deadly. But your post seems to be trying to nail this down, or see if there is a more wide-spread problem. I hope you efforts pay off in data gathered.
More likely the strawberries. They are hard to clean and can harbor loads of bacteria. Listeria Mytogenies and e-coli. For a while there, Surebeam was irradiating strawberries to kill nasties. They went bankrupt and now nobody is doing it. Kids grab and grip the berries in their unwashed fists when eating them as well. Could be a mutually worsening combination.
I am in the area and missed local news tonight...horrible
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