Three Victims of Alabama E. coli Outbreak Still Hospitalized
About two weeks after being hospitalized, three people are still in critical condition after being sickened in an E. coli outbreak linked to Little Rosie’s Taqueria restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama.
According to a story in today's Huntsville Times:
Five-year-old Samuel Coggin of Meridianville is undergoing dialysis at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital to flush the toxic E. coli O157:H7 bacteria from his kidneys. In a sign that the treatment is working, Samuel was able to urinate Sunday night, said his grandfather James Cole. "Before we left, we gathered around his hospital bed and prayed," Cole said Monday. "Rene (Samuel's mother) said he woke up about 10 minutes later and said, 'I've got to go to the bathroom.' I have no doubt prayer is what's helped the dialysis work better and hopefully faster."
Hampton Cove resident Regina Lassiter, 69, is also slowly improving, although she remains on a ventilator at Memorial Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C. Lassiter and her husband, Max, were visiting a nephew in Highlands, N.C., when she got sick.
"The doctors are optimistic about her long-term recovery," Max Lassiter said Monday. "But they're saying it'll take a long time - maybe a few weeks or months."
The other hospitalized E. coli victim, a 48-year-old woman whose name has not been released, was in serious condition Monday in Huntsville Hospital's medical intensive care unit. She had been in critical condition.
E. coli-related kidney failure is caused by hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a condition that can develop from an E. coli O157:H7 infection. HUS is the leading cause of kidney failure in children in the United States and is responsible for most E. coli-related deaths. HUS can cause permanent injury to the kidneys and other organs and is fatal in about 5% of the cases.
To contact Pritzker | Ruohonen, a leading foodborne litigation law firm, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's online consultation form. The firm is currently representing the families of two women who died from E. coli-related HUS.