E. coli cases hit home for families

April 5, 2005
The Calgary Herald
B7
Holly Miyasaki

According to this story, a recent E. coli outbreak linked to petting zoos in Florida brings back haunting memories for Calgary mother Andrea Bourget. After contracting a deadly strain of the bacteria in August of last year, Bourget's then 15-month-old son Matthew spent weeks in hospital undergoing surgeries and treatments.

Bourget, whose son spent six weeks in the hospital, was quoted as saying, "It was very serious and very scary," adding that she suspects her son was exposed to the serious strain of E. coli bacteria called O157:H7, which can lead to the sometimes deadly Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome at a local petting zoo, but has no proof.

Dr. Julian Midgley, who specializes in kidney disease at Calgary's Alberta Children's Hospital, was cited as saying in the 10 years he's been at the hospital he's seen an average of 10 cases of HUS in a year, with only one death, adding, "Clearly, very small children who can't stop putting things in their mouth shouldn't be petting animals. Older children need to make sure they wash their hands and are careful for what they touch."

Kelly Docherty, whose daughter Averey suffered from HUS in 2001, came from exposure to red meat and not a petting zoo, was quoted as saying, "The experience for me was absolutely life altering," and that during Averey's nearly five-week hospital stay she experienced renal failure, dialysis, blood transfusions, her bowels shutting down, a fungal infection in her kidneys and painful bloodwork for weeks after her release.

The now five-year old Averey has a good bill of health but still suffers from bowel problems and must be closely monitored during periods of change in the kidneys -- puberty, pregnancy and menopause.

After testing stool samples, it was determined the E. coli came from red meat, which mystified her parents as they had not fed their daughter any.