A 6-year-old girl from the US state of Massachusetts died from E. coli, and her mother alleges the bacteria came from a contaminated cheeseburger from McDonald's.
"It was fast. It was really, really fast," Samantha Ocasio said, talking about her daughter's sudden demise, adding she does not want it to happen to anybody else's children, The New York Post reported.
Based in Springfield, Ocasio said that her daughter, Angelica Vazquez, ate the food before the night of trick-or-treating on Halloween and fell ill the next evening.
As she started throwing up, Ocasio asked her whether she wanted to see a doctor, but the child said, "No, my belly just hurts."
At first, the mother of seven thought the sickness might be just a simple stomach infection and had her daughter Gatorade and told her to take rest.
Things went out of control on November 2 when the girl passed out and went into cardiac arrest after a bubble bath, according to masslive.com.
Soon she was rushed to the Baystate Medical Center but died at the hospital 12 hours later. Ocasio said the last thing her daughter said was, "I love you".
As per health officials, the outbreak of E. coli has been linked to onions served on some cheeseburgers at McDonald's after over 100 people in 13 states fell sick due to it in recent weeks. The US Centers for Disease and Control Prevention, however, said that no confirmed cases of the E. coli strain at McDonald's restaurants in Massachusetts have been found.
"My whole concern is 'OK, if it wasn't McDonald's, what is it?'... My daughter was happy. She was healthy," Ocasio said.
She further said that Angelica Vazquez was the only person who ate the cheeseburger from McDonald's in her family, while her siblings went for chicken nuggets.
McDonald's said that the outbreak had been linked to slivered onions served on Quarter Pounders, which is different from the diced onions that are being used on the smaller cheeseburger, that the girl ate.
Post the outbreak, the food chain said it had stopped selling the burgers, besides identifying an alternate slivered onion supplier at 900 of its chains.
"We are absolutely heartbroken for this family's loss, and we extend our deepest sympathies. We take any and every report of a potential food safety issue seriously," it said.
"What's important to know is that the public health officials have not connected any reports of E. Coli to McDonald's in Massachusetts or the broader northeast region," it added.
