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Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in children: the signs, when to get care, the hospital, and preventing it
For a parent or anyone looking after a child who has, or may have, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), most often after bloody diarrhea from E. coli. It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says: what it is, what causes it, who is more likely to get it, the signs, when to seek immediate care, the tests, the treatment in the hospital and dialysis, getting better, preventing it, and food. It builds the questions to ask and prints a wallet card. Nothing is saved.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- A seizure, trouble breathing, fainting, or a child who is very hard to wake? Call 911 (ours).
- Unusual bleeding, swelling, extreme tiredness, much less urine, or unexplained bruises? NIDDK says to seek immediate care. Bloody diarrhea? Call the child’s health care provider the same day (ours); NIDDK says HUS often starts with it.
- Thoughts of suicide, or all too much? Call or text 988, any hour, free (ours).
More help
- On this site: Vomiting and diarrhea in a baby or child · Food poisoning and stomach bugs · Kidney disease in children · Blood in the urine · Anemia · Kidneys, bladder and urine: find the right page.
- If the kidneys need help: Hemodialysis · Peritoneal dialysis · Kidney transplant · Kidney biopsy · High blood pressure · Caring for someone · Depression · My medicines.
- When it is hard to pay: When you need a doctor and can’t pay · Medical bills. Getting ready: Get ready for your appointment.
- In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Kidneys, bladder or urine, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for bladder infections, kidney stones, blood in the urine, bladder pain, bladder leaks, the prostate, kidney disease and bedwetting, on one list.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- Nephrotic syndrome: in adults and in children: nephrotic syndrome in adults and in children (swelling, foamy urine, protein in the urine): what causes it, the signs and what it can lead to, the urine and blood tests, the treatment, and steroids and relapses in children.
- Kidney failure: choosing a treatment (dialysis, a transplant, or conservative care): kidney failure (kidneys failing or about to fail; choosing between hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, a kidney transplant, or conservative management, care without dialysis): the signs and when to start, how to choose and change your mind, an advance directive, dialysis at a center or at home, the access, infection signs, the transplant waiting list and living donors, food by treatment, work, and paying for it (Medicare, Medicaid, the social worker).
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 20, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome in Children (last reviewed June 2015). The numbers (about two out of every 100,000 children; more likely under age 5; meat cooked to at least 160 °F) are NIDDK’s, and we add none. Ours: the 911 line; calling the child’s provider the same day about bloody diarrhea; asking before giving any medicine for diarrhea, pain or fever; telling the team about others at home with diarrhea; 988; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: NIDDK’s section on research studies, its references and its list of outside resources; we name no medicine and no doses. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.