Number of E. coli Infection Cases Linked to Chopped Romaine Lettuce Increases

CDC updated information on the E. coli outbreak associated with romaine lettuce.  There are now 53 people infected in 16 dates.  Of those, 31 have been hospitalized with five who have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.

No specific source or reason for the contamination has been identified outisde the fact the product was from Yuma Az.

https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-04-18/index.html
Multistate Outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 Infections Linked to Chopped Romaine Lettuce
Posted April 18, 2018 4:15 PM EST

What's New?

• Eighteen more ill people have been added to this investigation since the last update on April 13, 2018. 
• Five more states have reported ill people: Alaska, Arizona, California, Louisiana, and Montana.
• Nine more hospitalizations have been reported, including two people who developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome.

Highlights

• Information collected to date indicates that chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region could be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and could make people sick. ◦At this time, no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand has been identified.
• Advice to Consumers: ◦Consumers anywhere in the United States who have store-bought chopped romaine lettuce at home, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick. If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.
• ◦Before purchasing romaine lettuce at a grocery store or eating it at a restaurant, confirm with the store or restaurant that it is not chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region. If you cannot confirm the source of the romaine lettuce, do not buy it or eat it.
• Advice to Restaurants and Retailers: ◦Restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell any chopped romaine lettuce, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, from the Yuma, Arizona growing region.
• Restaurants and retailers should ask their suppliers about the source of their chopped romaine lettuce.
• CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7) infections.
• 53 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 16 states. ◦31 people have been hospitalized, including five people who have developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
• No deaths have been reported.
• This investigation is ongoing, and CDC will provide updates when more information is
  available.
  
  
  Case Count Update
  
  Since the last update on April 13, 2018, 18 more people were added to this outbreak.
  
  As of April 18, 2018, 53 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 16 states. A list of the states and the number of cases in each can be found on the Case Count Map page. Illnesses started on dates ranging from March 13, 2018 to April 6, 2018. Ill people range in age from 10 to 85 years, with a median age of 34. Seventy percent of ill people are female. Thirty-one ill people have been hospitalized, including five people who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.
  
  Illnesses that occurred after March 29, 2018, might not yet be reported due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill with E. coli and when the illness is reported. This takes an average of two to three weeks.
  
  Investigation Update
  
  State and local health officials continue to interview ill people to ask about the foods they ate and other exposures before they became ill. Forty-one (95%) of 43 people interviewed reported eating romaine lettuce in the week before their illness started. This percentage is significantly higher than results from a survey[787 KB] of healthy people in which 46% reported eating romaine lettuce in the week before they were interviewed. Most people reported eating a salad at a restaurant, and romaine lettuce was the only common ingredient identified among the salads eaten. The restaurants reported using bagged, chopped romaine lettuce to make salads. At this time, ill people are not reporting whole heads or hearts of romaine.
  
  Information collected to date indicates that chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region could be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and could make people sick. Read CDC’s advice to consumers, restaurants, and retailers.
  
  
  This investigation is ongoing, and CDC will provide more information as it becomes available.