Parents must be vigilant about preventing E. coli infection

Each year in this country, 73,000 people become sick and about 60 die from E. coli infection. The parents of two young siblings in Effingham, Illinois, are hoping that by sharing their story, other parents will become more aware of food-borne illnesses.
Most E. coli illness is associated with eating contaminated beef, especially ground beef that has not been cooked sufficiently to kill E. coli. The contaminated meat looks and smells normal. Person-to-person contact in families and child care centers is also known to spread the illness.
Claire and Christopher Lustig stayed in the pediatric ICU at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St Louis for weeks as a result of E. coli poisoning, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.
Christopher, 2, suffered at least one stroke and may have some permanent neurological damage. He will need months of physical therapy to regain some of the physical ability he has lost.