Experiences of STEC E. coli O157 recovery and school exclusion.

[Th1sisnotadrill]

Just looking for other experiences of this horrendous infection, can't see much online. My 5 yo son tested positive for STEC ECOLI 0157 last Saturday. After 3 days on a drip he is now home and recovering well. He is to be tested every day to make sure his kidneys are okay aswell. Public health are involved and have said he can't return to school until he has two stools free of the ecoli virus. Has anyone been in this situation before? I'm told it could take several weeks for it to clear from his stools. Both me and his dad work full time and really not in a position to take a hit on our wages but between us we are going to have to take unpaid time off to facilitate this. It's been such a traumatic week, and now, I'm starting to really worry about how we'll manage. I'm also very concerned about my son developing problems with his kidneys, but I'm reassured that it'll be picked up early should the worst happen.

Do either of you get paid sick leave?

If you do, I’d consider your stress levels while this is going on and whether they mean you’re well enough to work.

No we don't unfortunately, it would be SSP but I doubt we'll qualify... Unless yes of course one of us were to be signed off due to stress I suppose.
Thank you for replying.

Yeah go off sick yourselves? Stress? Or emergency parental leave surely? You can’t surely expect to be told it’s fine to just send him back to school and risk other kids getting this?

Is there anyway your employers would allow wfh, obviously depends on your job, but you could explain that it's not going to be as easy to get childcare from eg older relatives/paid carers, due to the nature of his illness? Some employers are happy to be flexible in unusual situations.
Hope he is well soon.

Of course I don't expect him to go back and risk infecting other children!! It's been absolutely horrendous and I wouldnt wish it on anyone. I was just looking about for other parents who've been in this situation and wondering how they managed, what they did etc.

Thank you. No, unfortunately neither of our roles are able to be done from home.

Is there any other work your employer can give you that can be done from home? Does it run 7 days a week eg could one of you work Monday-Thursday and the other Friday-Sunday?

Hope he gets better soon.

Yes, I think this is similar to what we're leaning to. I think parental leave needs to be taken in a week long block at a time.

If he's been on antibiotics (STEC is bacterial), he SHOULD clear out the infection now quickly. The average number of days children shed STEC for when treated is 5-6 days (though it can be longer, as you've been told). I think you should tell UKHSA/the health protection team that you are experiencing financial hardship keeping him home, just in case there's anything they can do.

Antibiotics are a no-no unfortunately, as they increase the toxins in the bloodstream.
Yes I might phone them and explain to see if there's anything they can advise in this situation. The community nurse has just been for a daily check in and she says the last known case of this particular strain in the area was years ago so she didn't have much info.
Have a phonecall with my manager soon and I'm going to request reduced hours.

Antibiotics are absolutely contraindicated in STEC E coli, as they dramatically increase the likelihood of haemolytic uraemic syndrome, which is the complication for which he is being monitored.

We discovered this sadly after telling the ward doctor that he'd been given amoxicillin and had been taking it for 4 days due to a chest infection. It's a worrying time.

Hope he recovers soon @Th1sisnotadrill its a worrying time.
If your employer cant be flexible and there isnt anyone else who can watch him while you work then please mention it to the UKHSA team. They normally work closely with the local authority public health team so may be able to help support in some way.

I am sorry to hear it. I had HUS at under a year old, many many years ago, and I know how worrying it was for my parents. I hope your DS avoids it, but if not, hope he makes as full a recovery as I did.

I hope your son makes a full recovery.
Do you know the source of the EColi?

Thank you. He's under a very dense monitoring plan so that's reassuring, all tests since leaving hospital have been clear thus far so long may it continue.

Not a clue. There's 3 of us in the household inc another child and we've all been fine. Public health and environmental health are doing investigations so we might get some answers in the coming weeks.

Under 1? Gosh that's awful I'm sure your parents were beside themselves. I'd never heard of it until this week, now it's all I'm thinking about. I'm trying my best to stay positive that he'll make it out unscathed.

Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery for your son. I was teaching in Japan in 1996 when there was a massive outbreak of O-157 (eventually linked to cabbage) in schools and numerous children died. Please, please follow all due protocols. It spreads very fast.

Unfortunately UKHSA won’t be able to do anything more until he’s had the 2 clear stool samples. It really is just a case of waiting for those. There’s something called Part II A where sometimes payment can be made if someone is excluded from work for this scenario and suffering hardship. I have a horrible feeling though that although your son is excluded from school, that the part 2A stuff won’t be relevant to you because you are the parent rather than the person suffering the illness. Ask EH or UKHSA if they could check for you.

Thank you, yes I'd looked into this and you're quite right, any assistance wouldnt apply to us, as we're not the ones excluded, just the parents of someone who is.

Part 2 are to enforce isolation it doesn't release financial support. It is when the population is put at risk by someone not complying to advice or treatment
Which isnt the case here as op is doing everything she can while hoping it clears soon
It also isnt a quick process so likely her son will be back at nursery before

How stressful! I didn't know about the antibiotics - HUS link. Fingers crossed for a swift natural recovery. The 5-6 days to recovery figure was from a study comparing under 5s with different types of STEC (O157 vs other STEC). I hope your LO clears it quickly.

That is so stupid because he obviously can’t stay home alone.

We haven’t experienced this but DS did manage to pick up a parasite that was also reportable. We managed with Annual leave and the help of DGPs. We were lucky that they were all within driving distance.

I hope he recovers quickly

Thanks very much.

Oh goodness, that must have been stressful for you all!

Just crazy how life can turn so quickly!