Lehi mom says her 2-year-old is hospitalized with E. coli
Sep 14, 2023, 7:50 PM | Updated: Sep 15, 2023, 11:35 am
LEHI, Utah — The mother of a 2-year-old girl hospitalized at Primary Children’s said she is seriously ill with E. coli.
A strain known as E. coli 0157, known to be particularly dangerous for children, was found in her city’s pressurized irrigation water.
Lehi City: No new E. coli cases; reduced counts of bacteria in irrigation water
Zoie Crystal said her daughter, Rosie Pantos, has spent several days in the hospital.
She said Pantos started showing signs of sickness two weeks ago.
“Her daycare lady, she called me at noon and said she had diarrhea and she was super achy, wanted to be held and her little belly hurt,” Crystal said. “Later that night when she was walking around, it was just hand on her belly letting us know her little belly hurt.”
Crystal said she called a nurse who told her to take Pantos to the emergency room.
“Our family, we don’t have a ton of health issues so we didn’t really think anything of it,” she said.
Crystal said the doctor brought up a diagnosis she hadn’t thought of.
“They said something closer to the end with the doctor in there, that if she was exposed to any E.coli and I was like, ‘Actually, we do live in Lehi where this is the outbreak.'”
Crystal said daughter became more sick and was hospitalized.
She said it’s been difficult to see her undergoing dialysis and feeling lethargic.
The Utah County Health Department and the State Health Department told KSL there is another confirmed E. coli case. Those agencies provide updates to the city of Lehi.
They’ve run tests to see if the strain found in Lehi’s pressurized irrigation water is linked to this E. coli case and are awaiting those results.
Health officials previously told KSL that there are likely far more people infected with the strain. The city of Lehi has reported 12 confirmed E. coli cases, with six hospitalizations.
“That’s a lot of people,” Utah Department of Health Breanne Osborn told KSL. “We don’t see that hardly at all. So this is a fairly large outbreak and it’s likely the tip of the iceberg.”
Crystal said she’s touch with the health department. The department told KSL the pending test results that could prove Pantos has the strain of E. coli linked to the Lehi outbreak can take some time to come in.
