Patient description: A 17 year old boy complains of vomiting, non-bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, chills and loss of appetite for the past 3 days. He ate a salad at a restaurant prior to his diarrhea onset. Physical exam was remarkable for pallor, jaundice, and diffuse abdominal tenderness. Lab results were as follows: Hemoglobin: 9.7 g/dL Platelet: 110,000 /cu.mm Creatinine: 3.6 mg/dL blood urea nitrogen (BUN): 73 mg/dL direct bilirubin: 2.4 mg/dL lactate dehydrogenase (LDH): 881 IU/L (normal: 110-265 IU/L) Peripheral blood smear showed a moderate number of schistocytes and helmet cells. Shiga-like toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) stx1/stx2 were found in stools. He has no other underlying disease and he is not on any medications.

Clinical trial eligibility criteria: eligible ages (years): 1.0-21.0,  Childhood Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor Childhood Central Nervous System Choriocarcinoma Childhood Central Nervous System Germinoma Childhood Central Nervous System Mixed Germ Cell Tumor Childhood Central Nervous System Teratoma Childhood Central Nervous System Yolk Sac Tumor Childhood Choroid Plexus Tumor Childhood Craniopharyngioma Childhood Ependymoblastoma Childhood Grade I Meningioma Childhood Grade II Meningioma Childhood Grade III Meningioma Childhood Infratentorial Ependymoma Childhood Medulloepithelioma Childhood Mixed Glioma Childhood Oligodendroglioma Childhood Supratentorial Ependymoma Gonadotroph Adenoma Pituitary Basophilic Adenoma Pituitary Chromophobe Adenoma Pituitary Eosinophilic Adenoma Prolactin Secreting Adenoma Recurrent Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Recurrent Childhood Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma Recurrent Childhood Brain Stem Glioma Recurrent Childhood Central Nervous System Embryonal Tumor Recurrent Childhood Cerebellar Astrocytoma Recurrent Childhood Cerebral Astrocytoma Recurrent Childhood Ependymoma Recurrent Childhood Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis Recurrent Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma Recurrent Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma Recurrent Childhood Medulloblastoma Recurrent Childhood Pineoblastoma Recurrent Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma Recurrent Childhood Spinal Cord Neoplasm Recurrent Childhood Subependymal Giant Cell Astrocytoma Recurrent Childhood Supratentorial Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor Recurrent Childhood Visual Pathway and Hypothalamic Glioma Recurrent Childhood Visual Pathway Glioma Recurrent Pituitary Tumor Recurrent/Refractory Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma T-cell Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia T-cell Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia TSH Secreting Adenoma Unspecified Childhood Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific Histologically confirmed malignancy (at diagnosis or relapse) Biopsy not required for intrinsic brain stem tumors or optic pathway gliomas No B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic lymphoma (ALL) or acute myeloid leukemia No T-cell leukemia with CNS3 disease Measurable or evaluable disease Current disease state must be one for which there is no known curative therapy or therapy proven to prolong survival with an acceptable quality of life Neurologic deficits in patients with CNS tumors must have been relatively stable for 1 week No active CNS leukemia Karnofsky performance status (PS) 50-100% (for patients > 16 years of age) or Lansky PS 50-100% (for patients ≤ 16 years of age) Patients who are unable to walk because of paralysis,but who are up in a wheelchair, will be considered ambulatory for the purpose of assessing the PS