The numbers grew Tuesday from three to 12 probable cases in Portland area and from 19 to 25 probable cases in five counties near Seattle. You may also have had a few mild symptoms that you didn’t recognize as being E. coli.
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Hedberg said the challenge of investigating a food-borne illness in restaurants like Chipotle is that many people eat the same things.
Chipotle Mexican Grill said it is conducting deep cleaning and full sanitation of its restaurants in the area.
About two dozen people have fallen ill and more were being tested.
The department stated, “While the outbreak appears to be linked to food served at Chipotle restaurants, the food or other source of contamination hasn’t yet been determined and remains under investigation”.
At least one lawsuit has been filed by a woman who claims she got sick after eating a burrito bowl at a Chipotle in Vancouver, Washington, on October 21. Chipotle closed 43 of its Pacific Northwest locations in response to the E. coli outbreak.
The E. coli outbreak in OR and Washington State is still growing and now officials have confirmed that the number of people infected with E. coli have reached to 37.
Dr. Katrina Hedberg, a health officer with the OHA’s Public Health Division, said that three of the cases required patients to be hospitalized, and that the cases found thus far were in Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Columbia, Benton and Deschutes counties. She had to undergo a painful examination and testing at PeaceHealth Lakefront Clinic in Longview, Wash.
Health experts, however, believe the initiative increases the risk of foodborne infections because it eliminates the cooking process in food preparation, which could kill numerous pathogens that cause illnesses. “I filed a lawsuit today against Chipotle because someone needs to stand up and say enough!!”
Dr. Hedberg recommends always washing vegetables, but says that won’t get rid of all of the E. coli that may be attached to produce. Only eight of the shuttered restaurants have drawn concern, but it closed the others “out of an abundance of caution”, Chipotle said.
The samples of different food from restaurants in question will have tested performed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine if the bacteria from food samples match that of the humans. The other outbreaks were a salmonella outbreak in Minnesota that health officials have said was likely caused by fresh tomatoes and a norovirus outbreak in Colorado.
Chipotle’s shares closed down 0.1 percent at $623.16 on Tuesday.
Modie said the OR health officials are consulting with their counterparts in Washington state “several times a day”. As of Tuesday, 11 local residents have been sickened after eating at Chipotle restaurants in Hazel Dell and Portland.
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The health agency advises customers, who have eaten at one of Chipotle’s stores in the area between October 14 and October 23 and who have become sick with bloody diarrhea and vomiting, to contact their health care provider and report the incident.
