Costco chicken salad is the culprit in a multistate E. coli outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday.
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The other cases were reported in Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Utah, Virginia and Washington. She says even though stores have pulled the product and none of it has tested positive for the bacteria, they want to make sure no else gets sick.
However, illness investigations have identified Costco chicken salad as a risk factor. PulseNet, the national subtyping network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories, is coordinated by CDC.
People who become ill from E.Coli usually start showing symptoms 2-8 days after swallowing the germ.
If you have recently eaten Costco chicken salad and are now experiencing these symptoms, consult your health care provider.
Dallas News further reported that nearly 90 percent of the people who purchased or ate the exact same dish from Costco in the week before their illnesses were diagnosed with E.coli. This chart is called an epidemic curve or epi curve.
While these infections actually took place between October 28 and November 3, now their source may have been finally discovered. The majority of those illnesses have been reported in western states. The current strain linked to Costco has been identified as E. coli 157, which the CDC said is more likely to be more harmful, especially in young children.
Costco’s vice president responsible for food safety, Craig Wilson, said the product was immediately removed after the CDC notified the company of the issue on Friday.
Listeria in recent years has caused the most deaths, largely due to an outbreak caused by contaminated cantaloupe in 2011 that killed 33 people, the CDC said.
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Updates will be provided when more information is available.
