A Colorado high-schooler is fighting kidney failure after reportedly eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounders in the weeks leading up to an E.coli outbreak.
Kamberlyn Bowler, 15, of Grand Junction, Colo., told NBC News her kidneys are failing after being diagnosed with a bacterial infection called enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), one of the rare symptoms associated with an E. coli infection.
As of Friday, 22 people had been hospitalized as a result of the outbreak, one being a “child with complications of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS),” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC).
“Of 42 people interviewed, all 42 reported eating at McDonald’s before their illness started and most specifically mentioned eating a Quarter Pounder hamburger,” the CDC noted.
Bowler told the outlet she began feeling sick after she went to McDonald’s several times and ordered her favourite meal: A Quarter Pounder with extra cheese and pickles.
The teen soon began experiencing symptoms including a fever and stomach pain, prompting her mother Brittany Randall to take her to a hospital.
“We both kind of thought I just had a fever, like just the flu or something — a stomach bug,” Bowler told NBC News.
“But then I started throwing up, having diarrhea and it was bloody, so it scared me.”
Nothing significant showed up on her initial tests at the emergency room, but about six days later Bowler returned to the hospital, where scans showed that the teen had been in renal failure due to a severe E. coli infection.
She was immediately airlifted to the Children’s Hospital Colorado for treatment, including multiple rounds of dialysis.
“If she would have waited, if I would have waited longer, she could not be here right now,” Randall said.
“She went from being super healthy and no issues at all to possibly kidney damage for her whole life.”
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Randall detailed that her daughter likely has “another round of dialysis” coming, but her future remains uncertain.
Bowler is one of dozens of people who are part of a lawsuit being filed against the fast-food chain, according to the outlet.
“Hearing reports like this is devastating to us,” a McDonald’s spokesperson told the outlet in a statement.
“We know that people and families have been significantly impacted and the well-being of our customers is deeply important to us.”
Colorado has reported the most illnesses amid the outbreak, which has spread across 13 states and infected 75 people, causing one death, the CDC said.
Over the weekend, McDonald’s USA president Joe Erlinger issued a response to customers in a video posted to the company’s website, apologizing and promising to work to regain their trust after the E. coli outbreak.
“On behalf of the McDonald’s system, I want you to hear from me: We are sorry,” Erlinger said in the video. “For those customers affected, you have my commitment that, led by our values, we will make this right.”