March 28, 2024

E. coli Leaves 1 Child Dead, Another Fighting for Life

Brad Sutton, 5, and his friend Serena Profitt, 4, went swimming and shared a restaurant sandwich on Labor Day weekend. Days later, both children became gravely ill with E.coli infections. Now Brad is on dialysis fighting for his life and both families are mourning the loss of Serena who died on Monday at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.

Teddy Bear Mouring the Loss of a ChildBoth children developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) a complication of E.coli infections that leads to kidney failure. HUS, which generally occurs around the eighth day after of an E. coli infection,  most often affects young children.  About 15 percent of  children under ten who contract an E. coli infection develop HUS.  In addition to kidney failure, HUS can cause blindness, convulsions, heart attack, seizures, stroke and coma. Dialysis is one of the treatments for HUS.

State and county health authorities are investigating the illnesses. Tests will show if the E. coli strains that sickened the children are genetic matches to each other. Any environmental swabs positive for E. coli taken from the restaurant or the swimming area will also be “genetically fingerprinted” to help determine the source of the infections.

A gofundme site has been started to help Serena’s family with medical bills. Click here to visit the site and make a contribution.

Comments

  1. Why isn’t the name of the restaurant where these 2 children probably ate contaminated food provided in this article? This article is useless to me if it doesn’t give me the information I need to keep my family safe.

    • Linda Larsen says

      The name of the restaurant is Roadhouse 18 Bar and Grill in Otis, Oregon. But the children could have contracted the bacteria from swimming in the pond. No link has been established between the restaurant and these illnesses.

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