Of the 141 people who have become ill and are connected to the outbreak, 118 are from Santa Clara County, according to the health department.
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Of the sickened patients, 49 were confirmed by lab tests to be infected with shigellosis.
Santa Clara County public health officials expect to receive laboratory results taken from food handlers of the restaurant next week. According to the Los Angeles Times, several people who dined at the restaurant on Friday or Saturday last week had to be sent to the hospital, with 12 of them given intensive treatment.
This is particularly unsafe when the person with Shigella works in the food industry, or child daycare. People can also contract the disease when the product has been contaminated by human sewage or flies have sat on food.
Those infected with shigella reportedly begin to feel sick within a day or two after having been exposed to the bacteria.
Symptoms of the disease include sudden onset of diarrhea that in a few cases contain blood, abdominal pain, fever and vomiting. The sickness usually lasts between five and seven days, but shigella can be fatal in patients with severe symptoms.
Gregory Meissner is one of two seafood restaurant customers who filed a lawsuit against the eatery after being stricken with shigella.
Since the incident has happened, the restaurant remains closed. Currently, epidemiologists working with the Shigella outbreak in Santa Clara county aren’t using Yelp to prop their investigation.
The infection is very contagious and health officials say people with diarrhea – even mild – must not work; especially people who work in “sensitive occupation”, such as healthcare providers, food service workers, and childcare workers.
County health experts say that careful, frequent hand washing is a particularly important step in stopping the spread of the shigella outbreak.
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Santa Clara County Health Department staffers are hopeful that they are nearing a peak in the outbreak.
