Typical clinical course of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections
Typical clinical course of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections
About three days after ingestion of the organism, the patient develops diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, and vomiting. The diarrhea becomes bloody one to three days later, rarely on the first day. In 80 to 90 percent of infected children with positive cultures, visible blood is present in the stools. When bloody diarrhea first develops, the patient has a normal platelet count, creatinine concentration, and packed-cell volume, with no red cell fragmentation. However, if studies of the coagulation and fibrinolytic systems are done early in the illness, there is evidence that thrombin generation is increased, fibrin deposition is occurring, and plasminogen activation is suppressed.