Doctors explain serious kidney disease facing some kids infected with E. coli in Calgary

Children under age five are most at risk of developing a severe illness called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a kidney disease that can be caused by E. coli 0157.

The number of E. coli infections linked to Calgary-area daycares could continue to rise, a doctor warns, potentially expanding the outbreak that’s already believed to be the largest of its kind in Canada involving children under five.

Dr. Stephen Freedman, an emergency physician at Alberta Children’s Hospital, said the illness could continue to spread in affected households and parents should ensure infected children wash their hands regularly so feces are not left on bathroom surfaces or elsewhere, potentially infecting others.

“Unfortunately, if their stool is shedding bacteria and there is a breakdown in hand hygiene procedures in the house, that can lead to somebody else getting it onto their hands and into their mouth. And hence the infection because it does not take a lot of this bacteria to cause symptomatic infection,” Freedman said.

There have been 264 lab-confirmed cases, mostly in children, of the bacterial infection since the outbreak at 11 daycares was declared on Sept. 4.

The outbreak is believed to be linked to a kitchen that supplies meals to those daycares.

Among the 25 patients who were hospitalized, 22 have a severe illness while six kids were receiving dialysis as of Wednesday.

E. coli, or Escherichia coli, is a diverse group of bacteria that normally live in the intestines of humans and animals. There are thousands of E. coli strains, and most are harmless.

The vast majority of E. coli infections cause diarrhea that resolves in a few days, and are associated with eating undercooked beef or improperly washed vegetables and fruit exposed to contaminated soil from cattle shedding the bacteria in their feces.