British girl, 2, dies from E.Coli poisoning after holiday in Turkey
A two-year-old British girl has died after contracting E.Coli poisoning while on holiday in Turkey.
Allie Birchall came down with the severe illness after returning to the UK following a stay at a luxury resort east of the coastal city of Antayla.
Her family were forced to turn off Allie’s life support machine just two weeks after their holiday because of complications caused by the illness.
The family had travelled to Turkey with tour operator Jet2 Holidays on 12 July and said they had concerns about the hygeine of the Turkish resort.
Katie Dawson, Allie’s mother, said her daughter did not start getting ill until five days after getting back to their home in Atherton, Greater Manchester.
According to Ms Dawson, Allie began suffering with stomach cramps, diarrhoea, loss of appetite and lethargy before being admitted to Royal Bolton Hospital on July 30.
The hospital confirmed Allie had contracted Shiga-Toxin producing E.Coli (STEC), which later led to her developing deadly Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS) - a life-threatening complication related to the poisoning.
Allie was moved to the Manchester Royal Infirmary and put in an induced coma on August 1.
An MRI scan was carried out, which revealed that she had sustained severe brain trauma and damage. Katie had to make the difficult decision to terminate Allie’s life support following the advice from doctors.
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Katie said: "I keep thinking that if I had known about the condition, then I would have probably taken Allie to hospital sooner and it wouldn’t have ended the way it did.
"Allie was such a beautiful, happy girl and we are all utterly heartbroken. We still can’t believe she is gone.
“Allie was an intelligent, beautiful and independent little lady.
“There is now a massive hole in our home and our hearts. We all miss her dearly. She should not have died. She had so much to give.”
“While nothing will bring her back, we need to know what caused her illness and if anything could have been done to prevent it.
The family have now instructed specialist international serious injury lawyers, Irwin Mitchell, to investigate what happened.
Public Health England is also currently investigating the matter, and an inquest has been opened to examine the circumstances surrounding Allie’s death.
Jatinder Paul, a Senior Associate Solicitor and specialist international serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing the family, said: “Allie’s family are understandably heartbroken at the loss of their lovely little girl and are struggling to come to terms with what happened.
“Through our work we are sadly only too aware of the potentially devastating consequences of serious illnesses such as STEC and E.coli, particularly for children, which are only highlighted by Allie’s sad death.
“This is every parent’s worst nightmare and we are supporting Katie and her family through this difficult time and are now investigating how Allie contracted her illness.
“As part of our investigations, we are looking into the family’s stay at the hotel and if any issues are identified, we hope that measures will be taken to ensure this does not happen again.”
Yahoo News UK has contacted Jet2 Holidays, Irwin Mitchell, and the holiday resort for comment.
