A 39-year-old mother has died four years after contracting a strain of E. coli that killed her young daughter.
Karen Odens’ little girl Sophia contracted the bacteria on February 5, 2014, from a mystery source. Despite being rushed to the hospital near their home in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, the four-year-old died days later.
But then, Karen fell ill with the same flu-like symptoms, and was forced to go through kidney dialysis for weeks.
After a month, she was discharged, but battled dangerously fluctuating blood pressure for years, in and out of hospital 30 times.
Eventually, she contracted kidney failure, and died on July 14.
Karen Odens (right) has died four years after her daughter Sophia (left) passed away. Both were killed by the same strain of E. coli, from a mystery source. Karen fought complications from the bacteria for four years until eventually dying from kidney failure
Her devastated husband of 11 years Eric Odens, their second child, Oliver, and her parents remembered Karen as a caring woman with a strong connection with her community.
‘The last four years have been really pretty rough and the strange thing is, we never could figure out what Sophia ate,’ her father, Ed Welke, told the Star Tribune.
Both Karen and Sophia contracted a strain of E. coli called O157, commonly found in produce like salad leaves. Indeed, that was the strain that killed five people and left many more with kidney failure this year.
It is particularly dangerous because it produces Shiga-toxins, a poisonous substances which can cause stomach cramps, vomiting and bloody diarrhea.
These toxins lead to kidney failure by binding to white blood cells, which move into the kidneys.
Once inside the kidneys, the toxins break the cells, triggering a rush of red blood cells to repair the damage.
That creates clotting, which leads to kidney failure.
When Sophia was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, doctors could not work out what was wrong with her, so she was moved to a hospital an hour west in Fargo, North Dakota.
It took doctors two days to determine that she had a dangerous strain of E.coli, by which point her kidneys had collapsed. Despite being airlifted to a specialist unit in Sioux Falls, Sophia died on February 11, a day after turning four.
Paying tribute to his daughter, who was born and raised in Detroit Lakes, Ed said he is still haunted by the mystery of the infection, not knowing what killed his daughter and granddaughter.
He said he hopes people who hear this story will take extra care to wash all their produce and do anything they can to lower their risk.