In the online version of the New England Journal of Medicine, physicians and scientists in Heidelberg, Montreal, and Paris reported on the successful treatment of three young children who were suffering from a severe hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) after an infection with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC). The infections occurred in 2010. EHEC are the bacteria that cause the current wave of infections that have already claimed ten lives in Germany. The number of suspected and confirmed cases of EHEC has now reached 700.
Eculizumab has been approved in Germany since 2007 and is used to treat a rare blood disease and a rare congenital form of HUS. Two years ago, American physicians reported similar success in children with this form of HUS (NEJM 2009; 360:544-546).
The children suffered from kidney failure and severe neurological disorders. "After several exchanges of blood plasma had no effect, we decided to attempt treatment with Eculizumab," reports Professor Dr. Franz Schaefer, head of the section of Pediatric Nephrology at the Center for Child and Adolescent Medicine at Heidelberg University Hospital.
Within 24 hours of the initial infusion, which was repeated once or twice at intervals of seven days, the clinical condition of the children improved dramatically. Dialysis due to acute kidney failure from HUS could be discontinued. All three children recovered and had no sequelae even six months after the illness.