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Several studies have suggested that antibiotic therapy may worsen the clinical outcome of infection caused by Escherichia coli O157:H7. This new prospective cohort study indicates that antibiotic treatment is a major risk factor for developing the hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS)in children.
Investigators followed 71 children younger than 10 who had a stool culture test positive for E. coli O157:H7 at one of 47 laboratories in the northwestern U.S. Medications were administered at the discretion of each child's treating physician. Nine children received antibiotics; their clinical characteristics were similar to those of the other 62 children. HUS developed in 10 children, 5 of whom had received antibiotics. In multivariate analysis, factors …