Toddler dies from rare, life-threatening illness after visit to Victorian petting zoo

A toddler struck down by a rare but severe condition after visiting a petting zoo has tragically died.

The little girl suffered brain damage and kidney failure and bravely spent weeks fighting for life in intensive care at Monash Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Sadly she never recovered, with her parents confirming the devastating news: “We’ve lost our darling girl”.

“She was courageous and a fighter,” her parents said in a statement on GoFundMe.

“She fought so hard. We all fought SO hard.”

The girl’s parents said it was difficult to put their experience of the last seven weeks into words.

“The unknowns. The uncertainty. The turbulence. Fear. So many tears. Can you run out of tears? One step forward two steps back,” they said.

“The rollercoaster you’re on but so desperately want to get off. All you can do is grip on for dear life. 

“The torture as a parent of not being able to console your own child, not through lack of trying anything and everything you possibly can, but because they are truly inconsolable.”

The toddler was one of two children struck down by haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) after visiting the same petting farm in May.

The other child, aged two, spent more than two weeks on dialysis after falling ill but has recovered.

HUS is triggered by Shiga toxin‑producing Escherichia coli (STEC), a bacteria found in the gut and faeces of animals.

STEC can be spread several ways, including through contaminated foods and drinks, close contact with an infected person — including changing nappies — and contact with farm or petting zoo animals.

There is about 1000 cases of STEC every year and it can progress to HUS, which is described by the Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) as a “life-threatening condition that damages red blood cells and the kidneys”.

Symptoms include pale skin, easy bruising, a rash of tiny red spots, drowsiness and passing little urine.

In emergencies, it can result in kidney failure, high blood pressure and seizures.

“With treatment, most people recover from HUS within a few weeks. But about one in 10 people with HUS die, or (suffer) permanent kidney failure,” according to the CDC.

Victoria’s health department said in August it investigates all reported HUS cases to ”identify potential sources of infection and prevent further cases”.

Authorities asked the farm to add extra handwashing stations and put up warnings about the risk of infection, but there is no suggestion it did anything wrong and experts say the bacteria is present in most farms.