Professor Cynthia Solem
English 1A
05 December 2014
How E. Coli Can Make Us Die
A 4-year-old Oregon girl has died from medical complications possibly resulting from an E. coli infection contracted sometime just before Labor Day weekend, according to the girl’s uncle, who spoke with Food Safety News.
Serena Profitt of Otis, OR, died Monday at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. Her symptoms of E. coli infection first appeared around Aug. 29 with bouts of diarrhea, said Travis Profitt, Serena’s uncle.
A spokesman for the Lincoln County Health and Human Services Department said that health officials are not ready to announce a cause of death because they have not completed all laboratory testing on the girl’s …show more content…
coli O157:H7 from contaminated water or food –most especially to raw or uncooked veggies and ground beef. Beef or any other cattle meat may be contaminated by the E. coli bacteria growing in the gastrointestinal tract of the cattle. It is also said to be, though not researched well, that both the contamination of the beef products made from cattle due to the E. coli O157:H7 and the non-STEC are more likely the same. From about three decades, a review of published records showed that the non-O157 STEC were more dominant in beef goods unlike with the E. coli O157. The dominance of the non-O157 STEC was showed in this case study where it ranged from 1.7 to 58% in packing plants, from 3 to 62.5% in supermarkets, and a 3 percent-average in fast food chains. Just recently, in a survey of retail ground beef goods in the US, about 1.9% of sample beef was contaminated with the non-O157 STEC. Another research showed a 10 to 30% dominance of the non-O157 STEC in both boneless and imported beef trim used for ground …show more content…
coli O157:H7. Taking anti-diarrheal medications slows down one’s digestive system, preventing the body from getting rid of its wastes, and eventually strengthens the risk of having more serious complications. Supportive care, to a degree of being close attention to the nutrition and hydration (or rehydration) of the person suffering from the infection –meaning good and complete rest and drinking a lot of fluids that will help prevent from dehydration and fatigue, is the number one therapy for somehow preventing the symptoms lead to a serious E. coli infection. Though no treatment has been discovered yet, there are still some home and lifestyle remedies a person infected with STEC can do: drinking a lot of clear liquids –water, clear sodas, broths, gelatin, and juices (yet avoid apple and pear juices), avoid drinking liquids with caffeine, and alcohol, eating low-fiber foods first when feeling better, and, avoiding foods produced with dairy, which have a high content of