The intestinal bacteria E. coli is usually not dangerous, but a certain variant – the Shiga toxin producing one E. coli (STEC) – can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in some cases, especially in young children. More knowledge and awareness about STEC is therefore very important.
The Shiga toxin produced by STEC leads to severe diarrhea in some patients, which is accompanied by bleeding in the intestines. The complaints disappear spontaneously after an average of 4 days, but HUS develops in 15-20% of patients (especially children between 6 months and 5 years), up to 2 weeks after the onset of diarrhea. A triad of symptoms occurs: hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia and (acute) renal insufficiency.
Pediatric nephrologist Prof. Dr. Nicole van de Kar (Radboud University Medical Center) wrote an overview article on this subject together with 2 colleagues from Saint-Louis (USA) and Calgary (Canada), where there was a major outbreak of E. coli at 11 daycare centers. They emphasize that it is important that healthcare providers are alert in the event of major outbreaks. Timely recognition and (symptomatic) treatment is of great importance, precisely because HUS is so rare and because infected children often get better before they deteriorate. The article was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Bron:
2023-12-01 11:08:41
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