The grandmother of a 4-year-old Oregon girl who died last September after testing positive for an E. coli infection is advocating legislation to require testing of children for the pathogen after four consecutive days of specific symptoms.

Sherri Profitt of Otis, OR, told KATU-TV that her granddaughter, Serena Profitt, should have been tested for E. coli much sooner than she was. A family friend, Bradley Sutton, 5, was also sickened and hospitalized at the same time, but he recovered.
Serena Profitt
Serena Profitt
The little girl initially developed symptoms about Aug. 29, 2014, and was first taken to a hospital in Lincoln City, OR, on Sept. 3. She later saw a pediatrician and was also treated at a hospital in McMinnville, OR. Finally, Serena was transferred to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, where she died on Sept. 8. Family members say she wasn’t tested for E. coli for several days despite her worsening symptoms. “My daughter-in-law was told don’t worry until the 8th day. That’s wrong. In eight days her kidneys were already shut down,” Profitt said. The source of Serena’s E. coli infection remains unclear, and test results were inconclusive. There was some speculation on the part of public health officials that droppings from the family’s goat were the problem, but that wasn’t certain either. Profitt recently contacted some Oregon legislators and asked them to write a bill requiring pathogen testing in situations such as her granddaughter’s.

House Bill 3540, sponsored by state Rep. David Gomberg  (D-Otis), would require Oregon health care workers to screen for pathogenic E. coli bacteria any patient younger than 18 “who presents with four or more consecutive days of unexplained diarrhea.” HB 3540 has been referred to the House Committee On Health Care for further action. Besides diarrhea (often bloody), symptoms of E. coli infection include severe stomach cramps and vomiting. Most people sickened by the bacteria get better within 5-7 days, but others, especially young children, can develop serious and potentially life-threatening complications such as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can cause kidney failure, permanent damage and death.