Utah mother charged for introducing bacteria, fecal matter into toddler son’s bloodstream

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Utah woman is being charged with child abuse after being accused of introducing infections and bacteria to her 2-year-old son’s bloodstream on several occasions, according to charging documents.

Kayla Barlow, 34, is being charged with one count of aggravated child abuse — intentionally or knowingly, which is a second-degree felony.

According to court documents, officials first responded to a children’s hospital in Salt Lake County for a child abuse call on Feb. 28, 2024. Barlow’s 2-year-old son was admitted to the hospital in December 2023.

“Hospital staff had expressed concern because anytime [Barlow] visited [her son] would immediately begin to get sick,” documents said.

After Barlow would leave the hospital, documents say her son would get better until she returned. One detective said hospital staff reported finding human feces in Barlow’s son’s drip line.

When detectives asked to search Barlow’s bag, she refused. She claimed she had syringes in her bag for IVF treatment and “didn’t want those to be misconstrued as something she was using to harm” her son.

In March 2024, another detective received medical care notes for Barlow’s son, which revealed he was oxygen-dependent because of a chronic lung disease.

Officials learned the toddler was discharged from a Colorado hospital with a peripherally inserted central catheter (or PICC line) on antibiotics. The toddler fell ill before a scheduled follow-up appointment and was taken to a Utah hospital, where he tested positive for E. coli.

While in the hospital in December 2023, officials found bacteria growing on the PICC line and replaced it. The new PICC line indicated a bacterial infection in the toddler’s blood, with the bacteria being identified as “often originating from vaginal secretions or fecal matter, which also can be purchased online,” documents said.

The bacteria could not have been orally introduced, and had to be introduced into the toddler’s bloodstream. There was reportedly “no other explanation for any other route of introduction,” documents say.

Doctors became concerned about child abuse after saying the toddler was falling ill despite “adequate treatment.”

The State of Utah has asked that Barlow be held without bail due to the nature of the felony charge and the circumstances surrounding it.