Complications may include the Guillain-Barre syndrome, the most common cause of limb paralysis in adults and children. Use of erythromycin can hasten recovery. In undercooked and raw ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, untreated water, and minimally processed and fresh fruit juices, for instance. This strain of E. coli is responsible for some 25,000 infections and up to 200 deaths each year. Some victims, particularly the very young, develop renal failure and anemia.
Elderly patients can also suffer fever and neurologic symptoms.
Such patients require intensive care. Others, given fluids and a bland diet, usually recover in about a week. This causes some 1,500 infections and up to 500 deaths annually. The illness begins with flulike symptoms, including fever, and may progress to sometimes fatal infections of the blood and central nervous system. In pregnant women it can lead to spontaneous abortion or stillbirth.