Cork family's scare: E.coli ‘could have killed our girl’

A girl attending a creche affected by an E.coli outbreak had to undergo dialysis after a severe strain of the superbug caused kidney failure.

The child, less than a year old, has spent the last 10 days in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, where she has undergone two blood transfusions, a platelet transfusion, and surgery to allow dialysis.

The girl, who attends Kindercare Childcare in Ballincollig, Co Cork, has verocytotoxigenic escherichia coli, known as VTEC, a strain of E.coli that produces a powerful toxin and can cause severe illness.