A girl in Massachusetts died of E coli after eating at her favorite fast food restaurant.
Angélica Vázquez, 6, ordered a cheeseburger at her local McDonald’s before a night of trick-or-treating on Halloween this year.
The next night, the elementary school girl told her mother, Samantha Ocasio, that she was feeling sick.
Mrs. Ocasio asked Angelica if she needed to see a doctor, but her daughter said, “No, I just have a bellyache.”
So the mother of seven assumed he simply had a common stomach bug and told him to drink Gatorade and relax in front of the TV.
On November 2, after a bubble bath, Angelica fell unconscious in her mother’s arms after saying: ‘I love you.’ Those would be his last words.
When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, the girl who was always “so grateful for everything she had” was in cardiac arrest.
Mrs Ocasio said: ‘It was quick. “It was very, very fast.”
Angélica Vázquez (pictured), 6, died earlier this month from E coli, which caused gastrointestinal bleeding and cardiac arrest. His family suspects that the culprit could be having eaten at McDonald’s two days earlier.
Burger onions (pictured) have been at the center of an investigation into an E coli outbreak.
Just 12 hours after arriving at the hospital, Angelica died from E coli, a deadly bacteria potentially linked to chopped yellow onions at McDonald’s restaurants in 14 states.
So far, more than 100 Americans have fallen ill and 34 have been hospitalized. An elderly man in Colorado died last month from the disease.
There have been no confirmed cases of E coli linked to the outbreak in Massachusetts and only one item was thought to be affected: McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burger.
Angelica had eaten a normal cheeseburger. But his family suspects that eating at the restaurant could be to blame.
Mrs. Ocasio said live dough: ‘My whole concern is “OK, if it wasn’t McDonald’s, what is it?”‘
In the United States, there are about 265,000 cases of E. coli each year and more than 100 people die from the disease, according to health officials.
Infections are caused by eating contaminated foods, such as ground meat (where a contaminated part of an animal’s intestine has leaked into the supply), vegetables (which may have been grown with contaminated water), and unpasteurized milk.
Patients usually begin to suffer symptoms three or four days after becoming infected, although they can delay more than a week.
These include diarrhea, stomach cramps, and nausea, which may go away within a few days.
However, if people start to suffer from persistent, severe or bloody diarrhoea, it is recommended that they seek urgent care in hospital.
In severe cases, E coli toxins have been shown to travel to the heart and cause inflammation, increasing stress on the organ. This could cause cardiac arrest.
Ocasio did not know the cause of her daughter’s death until she read the death certificate. At the hospital, he says, the doctors refused to give answers.
They only told him that Angelica suffered brain damage, which could have been caused because E. coli broke through the blood-brain barrier and traveled to the central nervous system, causing inflammation and cutting off oxygen to the organ.
Mrs. Ocasio said: “They kept telling me, ‘She’s too sick.’ She’s too sick.”‘
Angelica’s death certificate revealed cardiac arrest, acute gastrointestinal bleeding, and a positive E coli test.
There have been no confirmed cases of E coli in Massachusetts due to the outbreak at McDonald’s, according to the CDC map above.
Angelica’s mother, Samantha Ocasio, is now focused on sharing her daughter’s story to save the life of another child. She told MassLive: “I feel like my job now is to raise awareness.”
It is unclear whether Angelica’s infection was caused by the burger she ate at McDonald’s. Earlier this month, Grimmway Farms announced a recall of its organic baby and whole carrots due to E coli contamination.
The affected products were sold in 18 states, sickening 39 people and hospitalizing 15. One person died.
Ms. Ocasio now focuses on keeping her six other children, all under the age of 10, safe and preserving her daughter’s memory by making necklaces for each of her siblings.
Mrs Ocasio said: ‘They can use them everywhere. We talk about her. They know they are more than welcome to talk about it.
‘And I check his mental health every morning and before bed. And in between, we talked a lot and cried together.”
She also noted that she wants to share her daughter’s story in hopes of saving another child’s life.
“I feel like my job now is to raise awareness,” he said.