Our law firm is investigating a multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7 infections (STEC O157:H7) in 13 states. To date, there are 17 reported, confirmed cases: California (3), Connecticut (2), Illinois (1), Indiana (1), Michigan (1), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (2), New York (1), Ohio (1), Pennsylvania (1), Virginia (1), Vermont (1) and Washington (1). Five people have been hospitalized in the United States, including one who died. Two people have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure.
“E. coli O157 poisoning and hemolytic uremic syndrome are preventable with good sanitation and testing. Companies involved in this outbreak need to be held accountable.”Fred Pritzker, Food Safety Lawyer
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People began getting sick on November 15, and the last reported illness began on December 8, 2017. There may be more people who were sickened in this outbreak.
The CDC has said this outbreak may be connected to one in Canada that has sickened people in several provinces. Canadian health officials determined that the Canadian outbreak was associated with eating romaine lettuce, some of which may have been sold by grocery stores and served at restaurants.
The CDC is doing whole genome sequencing (DNA testing) on samples of E. coli bacteria making people sick in the United States. This testing will give us information about whether these illnesses are related to the illnesses in Canada. Preliminary results show that the type of E. coli making people sick in both countries is closely related genetically, meaning the ill people are more likely to share a common source of infection.
State and local public health officials are interviewing sick people to determine what they ate in the week before they were sickened by E. coli O157. This is one step in finding the source of an outbreak.
If you want to sue for E. coli food poisoning, contact our law firm using the form above or call 1-888-377-8900.