At least 5 children with HUS – Acute Kidney Failure

raw-milk-bottle-the-standard-org.jpgThe Missouri State Department of Health and Senior Services said Wednesday it now has 14 confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7. The two new E. coli cases are from Boone and Marion counties. The 14 cases have similar lab results, geographic proximity and/or case history – drank raw milk or are family memembers of those who drank raw milk. A 2-year-old Boone County child sickened with E. coli remained hospitalized Wednesday with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a complication of E. coli infection that causes kidney failure. Five cases have been reported in Boone County, three in Cooper, three in Howard, and one each in Jackson, Marion and Callaway counties. The illnesses have been linked to a farm owned by Sam Stroupe of Armstrong, Missouri.

In Oregon a total of twenty-one people have been linked to tainted raw milk. According to the Oregon State Department of Health, the Oregon farm whose raw milk is the suspected source of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that has sickened 19 has now been associated with two more foodborne illness victims. Health officials reported Monday that two adults who had consumed raw milk from Foundation Farm had contracted infections from two different pathogens – Campylobacter and Cryptosporidium.  Four children ages 1, 3, 14 and 14 were hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).  According to the most recent information, all four are still in the hospital.

For more information on the real risks of raw milk, visit, www.realrawmilkfacts.com.  And, for more information on the complications of HUS, see, E. coli Outbreaks and HUS: The acute and long-term consequences.