Child E. coli HUS Outbreak In Amarillo, TX
Four young children in Amarillo, Texas, have been hospitalized with HUS and three others have been sickened -- all by E. coli O157:H7. The outbreak or cluster has prompted city health officials to warn Amarillo area residents to practice good hand hygiene to help keep it from spreading.
Dr. Roger Smalligan, the public health authority for Potter and Randall counties, told Amarillo Globe News that an investigation is in progress to determine the cause. Six of the seven children had some contact with each other and several of the children are related to each other, Smalligan said. He wouldn't say if the Amarillo child E. coli outbreak was in a daycare setting, as some outbreaks are.
The four children hospitalized with HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, are all under age five -- the age group most susceptiple to HUS. HUS is a life-threatening condition in which the body’s blood cells are fragmented by Shiga toxin, causing blocked circulation in the kidneys and elsewhere or bleeding in the brain. Once an infection from a type of E. coli that emits Shiga toxin has been established, no therapeutic interventions are available to lessen the risk of HUS from developing.
Smalligan said no specific food has been linked to the illness as of yet. Officials also are investigating whether international travel, exposure to infected animals, human-to-human contact with infected individuals or nonpublic sources of water might have played a role. Amarillo Public Health Director Matt Richardson said the investigation could take some time.
