Een patiënt met hemolytisch-uremisch syndroom en infectie met enterohemorragische Escherichia coli (EHEC)

Background

In infection with the enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), toxins produced by the bacteria can induce the potentially lethal disease haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Case description

A 71-year-old woman was seen at the Emergency Department with abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhoea. Diagnostic tests revealed ischaemia of the intestinal mucosa. A few days after admission the patient developed acute malfunction of the kidneys and thrombocytopenia. HUS was diagnosed, which was later shown to be caused by infection with EHEC. The patient was treated with plasmapheresis and haemodialysis, which brought her kidney function back to normal. History taking revealed that the patient had visited northern Germany where the EHEC epidemic was raging.

Conclusion

In cases of bloody diarrhoea, clinicians should consider infection with EHEC – a bacterium for which antibiotics are not appropriate treatment. If the infection becomes complicated by the development of HUS, then the treatment of choice should be administration of fluids, and haemodialysis possibly combined with plasmapheresis.

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: none declared.