Four years ago, 4-year-old Sophia Odens of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, got very sick with a strain of E. coli called O157, which is hard on the kidneys. 
 
 Sophia's mom, Karen Odens, caught it too. Both of them were hospitalized. Doctors couldn't save Sophia. 
 
 On July 14, Karen Odens died at age 39 from prolonged complications of an E. coli infection she contracted while providing extensive care in 2014 for her daughter. 
 
 "She was so small that she couldn't fight off this bacteria. And she died," said Karen's father, Ed Welke. 
 
 Welke said that before Sophia's death, the daughter and mother were inseparable -- dressing up in costumes and playing with Sophia's favorite toys, My Little Pony. 
 
 "Everything was wonderful until that E. coli hit," Welke said. 
 
 Besides her grief, and post-traumatic stress disorder that followed, Karen had damanged kidneys from the E. coli. Her body had been through a lot. 
 
 "She was born with congenital defects. She was a little person. She was quite small herself, so she had trouble herself fighting off this E. coli 157," Welke said. 
 
 For the past eight months, Karen had been undergoing kidney dialysis in Detroit Lakes three days a week. 
 
 Finally, her body could take no more, and the deadly bacteria claimed her life as well, leaving a family grieving another tragic death, and urging others to guard themselves against E. coli O157. 
 
 "I urge everybody to wash your fruits and vegetables. Don't trust anything. Because when you buy that from the grocery store, you have to protect yourself," Welke said. ||||| PELICAN RAPIDS, Minn. — Four years ago, Karen Odens buried her 4-year-old daughter. Now, friends and family are mourning the death of Karen, a pharmacist in west-central Minnesota. 
 
 Odens, 39, is being described as someone “with a gentle smile who could melt the hearts of those around her.” 
 
 She died Saturday, July 14, her obituary said. 
 
 Odens had been hospitalized 30 times in the last four years, and it all started when her 4-year old daughter Sophia contracted an aggressive form of E. coli bacteria and died one day after her birthday. 
 
 On Feb. 5, 2014, 4-year-old Sophia began to feel ill with flu-like symptoms. The following morning, Odens — along with her husband, Eric — brought their daughter to a Detroit Lakes hospital after her symptoms went from bad to worse. Sophia would die from an E. coli bacteria infection only a few days later. Doctors ultimately could not determine where Sophia contracted the infection from. 
 
 For Odens, however, it was believed her illness was caused from time spent with Sophia in the hospital. Like her daughter Sophia, Odens’ family says it was never officially determined where Karen contracted the bacteria. 
 
 Upon contraction of the infection, Odens was initially hospitalized in 2014 for a total of 34 days, with 14 of those days in intensive care at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, S.D. Odens went through kidney dialysis and a plasma exchange while in the hospital. 
 
 Odens, who earned a doctorate in pharmacy from North Dakota State University in 2003, worked for over 10 years at Pelican Drug in Pelican Rapids as a pharmacist before taking a leave of absence due to health concerns, her obituary said. ||||| A severe bacterial E. coli infection that killed a 4-year-old girl in west central Minnesota four years ago has now played a role in the death of her mother. 
 
 Karen Odens died at age 39 on July 14 from prolonged complications of an E. coli infection she contracted while providing extensive care in 2014 for her daughter, Sophia, her father said. 
 
 Odens was inseparable from her daughter — fishing off the dock at their home, playing My Little Pony, dressing up together for Halloween, said her father, Ed Welke. 
 
 She struggled with post-traumatic stress following Sophia’s death, Welke said, but also was hospitalized 30 times due to complications from her own infection. 
 
 “The last four years have been really pretty rough,” he said, “and the strange thing is, we never could figure out what Sophia ate” that caused the initial infection of the harsh E. coli O157 strain. 
 
 Welke said his family hopes that others will learn from the tragedy by washing their produce thoroughly, fully cooking meat and taking other precautions to prevent foodborne infections. 
 
 E. coli outbreaks occur every year in Minnesota, mostly as a result of eating food contaminated with the bacteria. Nine confirmed outbreaks in 2015 were traced to restaurants, a day-care center and even a county fair, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. This year, 12 E. coli infections and two deaths in Minnesota have been traced to a national outbreak involving contaminated romaine lettuce grown in the southwestern United States. 
 
 Most cases produce severe stomach cramps and diarrhea. But it can also produce a condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can lead to life-threatening kidney problems. 
 
 The infection can be spread by person-to-person contact, especially in child-care facilities and situations where caregivers or others come in contact with the fecal matter of people who are infected, said Carlota Medus, an epidemiologist supervisor in the health department’s foodborne diseases unit. 
 
 Already this year, the state has ordered more than a dozen children to stay home from child-care facilities until their risks of spreading E. coli have passed. 
 
 “When the public thinks about E. coli, they often think about ground beef,” Medus said. “But [person-to-person transmission] absolutely is a risk. Stool to hand to mouth or stool to surface to hand to mouth — any variation on that theme.” 
 
 Underlying health conditions increase the risks of complications or deaths from E. coli infections, Medus said. 
 
 Trusted pharmacist 
 
 Odens earned a doctorate in pharmacy from North Dakota State University and worked for a decade at Pelican Drug in Pelican Rapids, Minn., where she became a trusted resource for the community’s growing Somali immigrant population. 
 
 “I want people to remember how caring she was,” her father said. “Men and women would come in and ask for Karen.” 
 
 Complications from her own illness eventually forced Odens to give up her job. She suffered swings of dangerously high blood pressure followed by equally hazardous low levels that would disrupt her kidneys. Eventually, kidney failure caused her to need dialysis. 
 
 According to her obituary, Odens is survived by her spouse, Eric, and her son, Oliver. A funeral service will be held Saturday in Detroit Lakes. ||||| A 5-year-old Wright County boy is fighting for his life after contracting a strain of E. coli that killed his younger sister earlier this week. 
 
 Kade and Kallan Maresh were sickened by a shiga toxin-producing bacteria on July 9, eventually sending them into acute kidney failure. State health officials are investigating the source for the E. coli that eventually led to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a complication of the bacterial infection. 
 
 On their CaringBridge site, parents Joseph and Tyffani Maresh said the toxin from the bacteria attacked their 3-year-old daughter’s kidneys and her neurological system. “Her brain and heart were being damaged,” the family said. “Our sweet sweet little girl lost the battle. … Kade is still fighting.” Kallan would have turned 4 next month. 
 
 “We were able to give Kallan a bath and put her favorite jammies on her,” her parents wrote in a journal entry on Sunday. “We got to hold her free of tubes and snuggle and kiss her. She is the most amazing little girl in the world. Our hearts are aching with the deepest sadness.” 
 
 Deaths resulting from HUS, which causes kidneys to stop working and red cells to be destroyed, are very rare, said Joni Scheftel, supervisor of the zoonotic diseases unit at the Minnesota Department of Health. Children and the elderly are most at risk, she said. 
 
 In an “abundance of precaution,” the animals at a petting zoo the children recently visited were taken off display, she said. 
 
 But the children could have been infected with E. coli from any number of other sources that health officials are investigating, she said. 
 
 Besides petting zoos, E. coli can be found in contaminated meat or produce, swimming pools or lakes contaminated with feces. 
 
 Health officials may be able to zero in on the source by next week once lab results are in, Scheftel said. So far, no other similar cases have been reported, she said. 
 
 The family said their son has had blood transfusions and is on kidney dialysis. “He has a long road to recovery and we hope and pray the toxins stay away from his brain and heart and other organ systems,” the family said. 
 
 Most types of E. coli are normal and harmless, according to a Mayo Clinic website. But other strains — including those that cause HUS — are responsible for serious foodborne infections. 
 
 Although health officials are in the early stages of their investigation, Scheftel said the children’s infection was what’s called an STEC, a group of E. coli that produces a toxin. One of the best known STECs is called E. coli O157:H7. 
 
 Last year, 326 cases of STEC were reported in Minnesota, including 122 E. coli O157:H7 cases and 14 HUS cases, Scheftel said. The last fatal pediatric HUS case was in 2014, she said. 
 
 HUS, which is a serious condition, usually develops in children after five to 10 days of diarrhea — often bloody — caused by infection with certain strains of E. coli bacteria, according to Mayo. Timely and appropriate treatment usually leads to a full recovery for most people, especially young children, according to the Mayo website. 
 
 The family said on CaringBridge that the two children began suffering from nonstop bloody diarrhea and vomiting a week earlier. After several visits to the emergency room, the two were rushed by ambulance to Children’s Hospital at the University of Minnesota. 
 
 On Monday, the parents said Kade’s blood work has not yet shown improvement. 
 
 “He got a special visit from some of his closest friends and family today and it was so fun to see him smile and be so talkative,” they wrote. “We have not got to see that in a long time.” 
 
 By Tuesday afternoon, a gofundme page had raised more than $45,000, double its $20,000 goal, to help the family with medical expenses.
– Karen Odens suffered from grief and PTSD after her 4-year-old daughter, Sophia, died in 2014 from an E. coli infection, but she also had health issues of her own directly related to the same E. coli strain—and on July 14, she also passed away at age 39. "The last four years have been really pretty rough," Odens' father, Ed Welke, tells the Star Tribune, adding that mom and daughter were joined at the hip before Sophia's death. The Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports Sophia died in February 2014, just a few days after she contracted the E. coli from a still-unknown source. As for how Odens was infected, it's believed—but not confirmed—she actually got it from being in the hospital where Sophia was being treated before she died. "When the public thinks about E. coli, they often think about ground beef," a Minnesota Department of Health epidemiologist tells the Star Tribune. "But [person-to-person transmission] absolutely is a risk." Welke tells KARE 11 that his daughter had also been born with congenital defects, which made it even harder for her to fight off the E. coli O157 strain. Odens' obituary notes she took a leave of absence from her job as a pharmacist in Pelican Rapids due to her health issues, and she'd been undergoing kidney dialysis for most of this year. "I urge everybody to wash your fruits and vegetables," Welke tells KARE 11. "Don't trust anything. Because when you buy ... from the grocery store, you have to protect yourself."