Fred Pritzker, a food safety attorney who recently won $4,500,000 for an E. coli victim, is investigating an outbreak of E. coli and Shigella in North Carolina associated with the Cleveland County Fair. Three children who attended the fair contracted E. coli infections. One of the young victims, Jordan McNair, a 12-year-old boy from Gaston County, developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a severe complication of both E. coli and Shigella that causes kidney failure and a host of other problems, including heart failure, brain damage, pancreatitis, sepsis, encephalitis–the list goes on.
Families can contact Attorney Fred Pritzker and his Bad Bug Law Team for a free consultation here.
According to news reports, this young man is fighting for his life and is in a drug-induced coma because of the excruciating pain. The public has a hard time understanding just how awful E. coli and HUS are and that we need to take every measure possible to prevent these illnesses. Fred and his Bad Bug Law Team have helped many E. coli-HUS victims and their families, and the knowledge of what these people go through has compelled them to speak out for better food safety regulation. This year Fred spoke at Harvard Law School, Cornell University and other venues.
Finding the specific source of the E. coli can be difficult in outbreaks associated with fairs. E. coli can be spread by contaminated food or water, animal feces or human feces. Consumption of just a few of these bacteria can cause serious illness or death. With a fair, any contaminated food has been consumed or thrown away, the concession stands are gone, the animals are gone.
The North Carolina Health Department has taken environmental samples from the fairground, including soil samples, in an attempt to find the source of the E. coli bacteria. In these cases, Fred hires an independent epidemiologist to make sure every possible source of illness has been examined.
