Update: Romaine Lettuce Named as Source of Multistate E. coli Outbreak
On April 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 affecting numerous people in different states. At the time of the agencys’ announcement, no food source had been identified.
As of April 13, the agencies have identified the food source as chopped romaine lettuce originating from the Yuma, AZ region. Since the original outbreak announcement, the number of cases increased to 35 sickened in 11 states. Twenty-two of those people were hospitalized, three of whom have developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome. No deaths have been reported