The Californian and North County Times report that Chris Martin of Murrieta, California, was hospitalized with an E. coli infection and hemolytic uremic syndrome after eating spinach and raw milk.
Although Chris’ parents aren’t sure what the source of his infection was, they believe that antibiotics administered when they took their son to the hospital could have led to his developing HUS. The couple said they believe their son would have recovered fairly easily from the E. coli infection were it not for a dose of antibiotics he should never have been given. This medical error, they said, pushed Chris to develop hemolytic uremic syndrome and ultimately kidney failure.
An E. coli infection can still lead to the syndrome without a dose of antibiotics, but the odds are significantly increased if a patient is given antibiotics. In Chris’ case, his father said doctors did not wait for the results of a culture to come back to confirm E. coli, that they thought it was colitis, an inflammation of the colon.