In addition, officials confirmed that most ate at Chipotles. That, in turn, should indicate which ingredient carried it into the meals of diners, Lindquist said.
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Chipotle has marketed itself as a more healthy option to fast food, touting itself as the first major national chain to eliminate genetically-modified ingredients from most of its menu.
“We don’t yet know of a vehicle, what food caused it, or even with certainty that all of the cases that are identified there are related to each other”, Frieden told reporters, according to NBC.
Chipotle restaurants in Oregon and Washington were closed during the weekend after they were linked to a Shiga toxic E. coli that sickened people in Oregon and Washington. Officials previously said 22 people were sick but revised the numbers Tuesday.
Food from six Chipotle stores connected with the outbreak is being tested.
The company is not planning to close any other restaurants in other states because there is no evidence of a link to other locations, Arnold said.
In the meantime, while an investigation is underway to determine the cause, Selig says the company must be as transparent and as cooperative as possible.
“Right now, that is the priority”, he said. A Kelso, Wash. woman was among those hospitalized and filed a lawsuit over her pain and medical costs.
A dozen of the confirmed cases involving Chipotle were in Oregon and the remainder were in Washington state, state officials said.
“Anyone who thinks they may have become ill from eating at a Chipotle restaurant in the past three weeks should consult their healthcare provider”, said state epidemiologist Dr. Scott Lindquist said in the media release.
By comparison, the state typically sees two or three infections in a given month not tied to a significant outbreak, Hedberg said.
Ashley Arellano, of Gladstone, was stunned when she got the diagnosis.
The current outbreak has resulted in 12 hospitalizations so far but no deaths, the state officials said.
This outbreak is the third incident of foodbourne illness at Chipotle this year. I was nauseous, I couldn’t hold anything down. People who are infected with E. coli O26 typically begin to show symptoms between two and eight days after swallowing the organism, with an average of three to four days, according to the CDC. She continued to get sicker, and visited her doctor, where she was diagnosed with an E. coli infection. Those sickened live in Clackamas, Washington, Columbia, Benton, and Deschutes counties in Oregon, and in Clark, Cowlitz, Island, King, and Skagit counties in Washington state.
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Now, they are doing more tests, on samples of human waste and on any E. coli found in food samples, looking for any exact DNA matches. They are interviewing everyone in both states who has tested positive for that strain of E. coli and are also testing food products from Chipotle restaurants to look for the same bacteria. The closures started October 30 and the restaurants remained shuttered at mid-week.
