Health officials have ended their investigation of an E.coli infection that took the life of Brooklyn Hoksbergen, 3. They were unable to determine how the preschooler contracted the infection at the end of August but said they could not find evidence linking her case to three others in Oregon.
Citing privacy laws, state health officials in Oregon have not been forthcoming with information on the investigation of E.coli-induced hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) that hospitalized three children with kidney failure, killing one of them.
On Wednesday, Lincoln County health officials said an Otis, Oregon restaurant, where two of the children shared a sandwich before they became ill, had been ruled out as a potential source. The families of two of the children are friends and spent the last two weekends of August together. At some point, Brad Sutton, 5, and Serena Profitt, 4, were exposed to a virulent form of E.coli. Brad remains hospitalized on dialysis. His 4-year-old friend, Serena Profitt, died last week.
A third child, Aubrie Utter, 3, was also diagnosed wit E.coli HUS kidney failure at the end of August. She spent a week in the hospital undergoing five blood transfusions before she was released.
