How is HUS treated?
Treatments, which consist of maintaining normal salt and water levels in the body, are aimed at easing the immediate symptoms and preventing further problems. A child may need a transfusion of red blood cells delivered through an intravenous, or IV, tube. In severe cases, several sessions of dialysis, a blood-cleansing treatment, may be required to temporarily take over the kidneys’ job of filtering wastes and extra fluid from the blood. Some children may sustain significant kidney damage that slowly develops into permanent kidney failure and will then require long-term dialysis or a kidney transplant. Some studies suggest that limiting protein in the child’s diet and treating high blood pressure with a medicine from a class of drugs called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors helps delay or prevent the onset of permanent kidney failure.
